Ronin Trip, Book One: For Want of a Rune
by James Firecat
Summary: AU: The Prophets of Destruction have a reputation as six of the deadliest mercenaries on the face of Suikoden, and they’ll go to any lengths to prove it. OCs but no OC/cannon character romance. A 'retelling' of the first Suikoden game.
1. Chapter 1

Ronin Trip 

Book one: For want of a rune.

Chapter one: Mercenaries, outsourcing at its finest.

FN: (Firecat note) Hi to anyone who's reading this. If you've realdy ready my FF7 fanfiction "Twilight Perfection" posted by way of thegr8sephiroth then I welcome you back, though I've got a different editor this time. For those of you who aren't familiar with my works, with any luck you'll find my particular style of writting enjoyable, either way please leave reviews about what you liked and what you loathed. Also forgive my crude way of doing scene breaks, asterisks and dashes aren't working.

It was a relatively small carriage that made its way down a mostly unused path. The voice of one who didn't have the slightest care about being overheard echoed out from inside it. "Are you sure we're going the right way?" 

A quite confident voice shot back its response at once. "Of course it's the right way, we took a left turn at the Tigerwolf Mountains; this path can't lead anywhere but straight to the capital." There was silence for a few moments, and then the first voice came back. "Hey, have any of you guys ever seen a tigerwolf? 'cause I've seen a lot of things but I've never seen a tigerwolf." 

A different voice responded this time. Judging from its higher timbre, its owner was obviously female. "You should know how humans are by now, James. They don't need something to actually exist to name a building or landmark after it. Think about it..." Apparently the owner of the first voice did, because for a while there was silence. At least until all of a sudden a group of horses came charging out of the hills to encircle the carriage. 

The four horses pulling the carriage came to an abrupt stop and a figure who had apparently not been holding onto anything was thrown out of the carriage. A moment later a second figure emerged, but instead of falling, this one jumped out. It did so over the fallen body without a moment's hesitation. 

He was obviously a nay-kobold; he wore a red jacket with a red shirt underneath, red pants, and red gloves, but his red hat did precious little to hide his feline features and crimson fur. His beaming blue eyes turned to inspect the fallen body and then he slapped himself in the face. "Oh man, what was I thinking? Everyone and his great grandmother knows that a cat isn't suppose to leap over a dead body or else..." 

The sentence was finished by the formally prone figure as she rose to her feet. "It gets back up, with a taste for blood." She wore a white jacket, shirt and gloves, with black pants. Her dark brown hair was parted by a streak of white that had nothing to do with age, at least one would guess based on her face, if it weren't for her red eyes. 

They marked her as a vampire, and guessing a vampire's true age was like trying to guess the number of stars in the sky. A moment later another figure got out of the carriage, though he did so without any sort of unnecessary antics. But this man didn't need them to get attention; he stood over six feet tall, and his bright silver hair hung down past his shoulders. 

He wore an impressive midnight black outfit with various sliver symbols engraved in it, and his golden yellow eyes were completely empty of fear. They were almost equally devoid of anger as well, and what little they held was aimed not at those who had waylaid them, but at his travelling companions.

"You two and your games. These riffraff need to be dealt with straight away. We can't be late for our appointment. Come on out everyone, we've got some work to take care of." A few moments later three more people left the carriage. One of them was a man, doubtlessly a Harmonian from the gun he carried. He had blue eyes, dirty blond hair, and wore a brown coat and pants. It was possible to see a hint of a scarlet tie and navy blue shirt but his cloak covered most of them.

The other two were female, one of which took up position next to the Harmonian holding a coiled flail in her hands. She was wearing a blue outfit that matched her azure hair, while her leaf green eyes and pointed ears made her elfin heritage quite clear. The last woman stood beside the tall man in black, she wore a green outfit that covered her from neck to knees. A small crossbow was mounted on each of her wrists. 

The tall man who was apparently in charge looked at the various mounted bandits, and sighed. "You should all get the hell out of my sight right now. Or you'll have to deal with the Prophets of Destruction." The lead bandit rode his horse up close to the tall man and glared down at him. "Yeah right, there's no way you're the Prophets of Destruction." The tall man sighed, then slowly moved his left hand, not towards the longsword he wore on his back, but for his right glove. "Really? 

Maybe if we read the runes and predicted your futures, would that make you believe me?" The black glove the tall man wore on his right hand came off and every single one of the bandits took a step back in shock at what they saw. "My name is Alexander Diamondclaw, but I had hoped you would already know that." The woman in green casually pointed her crossbows at a pair of bandits. "Florence Bastien." The nay-kobold opened up his red jacket revealing row upon row of knives resting in various hand sewn pockets. "James Firecat." 

The vampire licked her right hand as all ten of her fingernails grew in length and sharpness transforming into claws. "Mirri Catwarrior." The Harmonian man looked down the length of his weapon at the bandit leader. "Cal Wright." The elf uncoiled her flail with tender and slow movements as if it was not a weapon of metal but a living serpent. "Devi Skye." 

The bandits all urged their horses to take a couple of steps back, the idea that they just might have chosen the wrong people to attack well and truly dawning on each and every single one of them at damn near the exact same moment. "We can talk this out..." Alexander brushed aside the words like a morning mist. "No, I'm afraid the time for talk is over. Your mere appearance will probably prove to be enough to make us late, and in our line of work that costs us money, so we're going to take our lost profit out of your hides."

Alexander raced forward and used his great height to grab the man right out off of his saddle, then hurled him at the ground. James yanked out the two knives that wore on his belt crossed his arms in the process, then using the momentum generated by uncrossing his appendages to speed the pair of blades on their way. They sailed through the air, and two bandits clutched their shoulders in pain as the weapons landed on the ground. 

Cal quickly shifted his gun around and another bandit fell from his saddle with a bullet hole in his right leg. Devi turned, spun, and lashed out her flail wrapping it around a bandits leg, and then gave a hard yank dragging the man to the ground. Mirri jumped into the air, then dove down like a bird of prey landing behind a still mounted bandit. 

She leaned backwards, wrapped her legs around her target, and proceeded to keep leaning back till she lifted the bandit out of his seat and tossed him through the air. The "battle" did not last very long at all.

- - - - (Scene Break)

The imperial soldiers looked at the carriage in surprise. It was fairly small, but it was being drawn by a truly impressive procession of horses. As they took their second look at it, they noticed the only the last four horses (those closest to the carriage) were properly attached to it, the other's were simply tied to them with coarse rope.. "HALT!" As the vehicle stopped, a man got out. He looked at the guards and casually smiled as he walked past one horse after another till he was finally face to face with the pair of guards.

"Hello guardsmen. My name is Alexander Diamondclaw from the Prophets of Destruction. I'm here to see the Emperor." He reached into a pocket and at once produced a document to exactly that effect, which also bore the imperial seal on it. The guards might or might not have been able to make sense of it all, but they both knew that not lightly did the Emperor give forth documents bearing his mark. 

"Of course sir, we'll open the gate and let you in at once." Alexander nodded and turned his attention back to the carriage, then he lowered his hand down abruptly, as if he intended to slice air itself with his bare appendage. "Oh, we have something for you also when being late to a party gifts are simply a must..." 

A moment later, several bodies who had been strapped onto the top of the carriage fell from it. Each and every one of them had their hands tied behind their backs and was dressed in nothing more than their undergarments. "Now all of you are going to play nice and not try to escape aren't you?" 

All of the captives blanched white and nodded like men possessed. "These thieves tried to impede us in our journey, so we took their horses, their weapons, and their clothing to make up for the money that Emperor Barbarossa would be right to withhold from us for arriving late. I'm sure you can find a jail cell to toss these miscreants into without trying too hard. Now then, mustn't keep his majesty waiting any more then we already have." 

Alexander used his great height to easily mount one of the two foremost horses and gave it a light slap on the rump to put it in motion. The guards to their credit managed to get the gate open before Alexander's mount ran headlong into them.

- - - (Scene Break)

The Emperor's palace was filled with just about every conceivable form of opulence, and this was especially true of his throne room. The six Prophets of Destruction walked side by side and graciously bowed to Emperor Barbarossa, though they did not actually touch their heads to the ground as would have those who were his subjects. He nodded and beckoned them closer to his gilded throne, one of them in particular. 

"Alexander Diamondclaw, is that you?" Alexander took a few more steps closer so that he was within arms reach of the Emperor. Emperor Barbarossa was growing old, and his face showed it, several wrinkles were noticeable in his face, grey flecked his black hair and his blue eyes were slightly clouded. "There is no other." 

The Emperor nodded slowly. "Yes. You have been lucky, the years have been kind to you." A woman with green eyes and blond hair, standing to the left of the Emperor's throne looked closely at Alexander, as if she was trying to see him with more than just her eyes. "So this is the great Alexander Diamondclaw?" A man who was not quite as tall as Alexander but still of impressive height with black hair and brown eyes standing to the right spoke up at once. 

"In the flesh Windy, he and his companions are not easy to forget. Though as the Emperor said, he and his men have born the passage of time quite well." In response to the man's compliments Alexander gave something that was obviously not a bow, but his head went down farther than an ordinary nod would have taken it. The Emperor sat back as straight as he possibly could. 

"Where are my manners, let's see now, do you still fashion yourself a general?" Alexander smiled slightly and turned to face the five behind him. "I saw no reason to abandon the self-imparted rank, Your Majesty. I am a master tactician in command of an army of six with the strength of six thousand." That drew a somewhat askance look from the woman, but neither the Emperor nor his other companion were surprised by it. 

"Very well then General Diamondclaw, to my left this is my Royal Court Mage Lady Windy, and to my right is..." Showing an impressive lack of tact (and common sense as well) James piped up, cutting in while the Emperor was taking a moment to gather his breath and thoughts. "General Teo McDohl, it's been a couple of years but since I haven't forgotten him. I doubt any of the others have either.

His armored calvary were some of the best fighters I've ever seen, discounting the times we've seen our reflections." To the nay-kobold's luck, the Emperor chuckled rather than ordered him beheaded or some other grisly fate. "Ahh the exuberances of youth. Yes, I believe you worked with General McDohl in the war which kept me on this throne. I thank you for that, and it us the reason that I have called for you again. 

You see much like during the War of Succession, for some reason my empire has become rife with bandits recently. Also in the north, Mayor Anabelle and the United City States of Jowston rattle their sabres hoping that any sign of true weakness from within they can exploit from without. Of course with General McDohl guarding our northern borders we have little to fear from them, isn't that right?" 

General McDohl nodded to Emperor Barbarossa . "No force on the face of Suikoden has yet discovered how to stop my armored calvary." The Emperor returned the nod, then his attention was once again fixated on Alexander. "Sadly there are only so many generals of McDohl's quality in the world. I have two problems that require a truly excellent general to oversee them, and only one excellent general directly on hand, so I decided that I would simply have to acquire another. 

That is of course where you come in Alexander. If memory serves, you more than excelled at tasks the likes of which I now need someone to handle. After all, I would no sooner order General McDohl and his armored calvary to mow down a bunch of footpads and cutpurses then I would try to kill a fly with a battle axe. You are more like the rapier, able to perform precision strikes quickly and skillfully." 

"As I remember it, in the last war it was the rapier used skillfully or even simply a knife in the gut that gave the battle axe room to swing freely. If you wish us to track down bandits, then it is my supreme pleasure to tell you that some of them had the bad luck to run into us on our way here. At this very moment they should now be currently residing in whatever jail cell the guards we handed them over to tossed them into." 

The Emperor laughed long and heartily at that turning his attention to his Court Mage. "See Windy? I told you the Prophets of Destruction were just what we needed. We haven't even put ink to their contract yet, and already they're at work solving our problems! 

This calls for a suitable recompense. I shall inform the servants at once and before the sun has finished setting we shall have a great feast laid out before us! After all friendship is to be more treasured and celebrated then any amount of gold. Don't you agree?" 

Five of the Prophets of Destruction nodded enthusiastically. Cal gave a single shake of his head, saw that on either side of him people were nodding, and then began to nod himself.

- - - - (Scene Break)

"So you're the great Alexander Diamondclaw? I am Commander Kraze. Emperor Barbarossa said that we would be working together in the future. I hope that you live up to your reputation." Alexander needed only a single look at Commander Kraze to instantly wish that he had been seated next to Emperor Barbarossa with as much distance between him and this man as possible. 

Kraze had the look about him of someone who wanted to give off the air of being a military man, but ended up failing due to the fact that he had never done any decent military work. He had black hair, and an impractically well cared for pair of black hairs below his pointed nose and above his equally well cared for beard. 

Real military men tended to look like they had just finished killing people, not grooming themselves. A few people falsely assumed the same thing of Alexander, but the fact of the mater was that his long silver hair was simply the result of completely ignoring it till it stopped growing. So he responded to Kraze's veiled question with the gruffest tone of voice he could muster. 

"Believe me, I exceed my reputation, mainly because there are precious few who survive my skills long enough to comment on them." That done, Alexander turned his attention back to something more interesting: the food. He grabbed a haunch of lamb and proceeded to tear into it with his bare teeth. 

This of course drew a startled 'oh my' from Kraze. Alexander proceeded to devour the entire thing before bothering to reply. "When you're used to chewing shoe leather in the field, well cooked meat doesn't pose much of a challenge to your teeth." Further down the table the other Prophets of Destruction were likewise availing themselves to the empire's finest food prepared by its best cooks. 

Devi put down a bunch of grapes she'd been munching one after another to shoot a smile at Cal. "So what do you think of the food?" Cal reduced the leg of some bird to a single bone, tossed the bone over his shoulder without a care and answered her question while reaching for another one. "It's free." Of course if you wanted to see a real spectacle then further down the table there was James and Mirri. 

Someone had made the innocent mistake of seating them across the table from one another. This was perfectly acceptable way to seat couples, but for those two it conflicted with the main point of having a feast, to eat. As a vampire Mirri subsisted on a diet of blood, and roughly 98-99 of the blood that she drank came from James' throat. So right in front of a great many of the Scarlet Moon Empire's most important nobles, James leaned across the table so that Mirri could lean over far enough herself to sink her teeth into his neck. 

For some reason people were finding this sight a distasteful one, and not at all conductive to dining. "Mirri I think we're making a scene." Syllable for syllable what came out of Mirri's mouth was the following. "Wood ent he heh hurst hime!" Of course if Mirri had bothered to pull her fangs from James' throat and remove her tongue from the base of James' neck, it might have come out more intelligibly. Possibly something to the order of "it wouldn't be the first time." 

Mirri, of course, showed the callous disregard for everyone around her that noblewomen were known for. James Firecat on the other hand simply excluded the childlike innocence and mentality of one who was starting to suspect that he just might be doing something wrong, but wasn't about to stop unless told him to. 

Not that the nay-kobold had made himself a great many friends when he'd extended his claws and used them to spear several small fish before gulping them down one at a time at a rate of two bites each. Of course since it was the Prophets of Destruction who were the cause of the celebration, they saw no particular reason to amend their behavior to the suitability's of the other guests. 

They were simply hangers-on at the Prophets' party. So in traditional mercenary fashion the Prophets focused on getting what they could while the getting was good. They certainly enjoyed the party by the time it was over.


	2. Chapter 2

Ronin Trip

Book one: For want of a rune

Chapter two: Unreliable sources.

FN: Welcome back to anyone still reading this. I wouldn't have posted this chapter so soon, but I think that reading it should help you get a handle on where I'm going with this fic.

As a general rule my writing tends to follow the Italian Style of Comedia Dell'Arte, or to put it in more modem terms, the Marx Brother's. I specialized in having a set group of characters who I know so well, that I can write them regardless of the setting. They break down like this.

Alexander Diamondclaw: Brilliant General, but prone to channeling just about every single emotion he feels through biting sarcasm.

Florence Bastien: Nurturing, mature, self composed, she's the only person on the planet who Alexander is prone to lose arguments with and knows it.

Callan Wright: Mercenary in every sense of the word, cares about the bottom line and precious few other things.

Devi Skye: Tright and true respectful solider, focuses on doing the job, keeping her comrades safe, and only then thinks about frivolity.

James Firecat: Nieve and trustworthy to a fault despite his chosen career. He's always ready to try and help others.

Mirri Catwarrior: Capable of being surprisingly kind or cruel based on the situation, if James is a kitten, Mirri is a full grown cat that quite frequently enjoys playing with its prey before eating it.

"The Emperor has consulted a local seer who read the stars for guidance and is ready to report her knowledge back to us. He wants you to pick up the readings in question." Alexander looked at Kraze like he was out of his mind. "That's what the Emperor wants us to serve him as, delivery boys?"

Kraze made the foolish mistake of trying to match his opponent glare for glare, when Alexander had all the advantages (height and experience to name two) on his side. "We can hardly be about the process of eliminating the bandits until we're sure of where they are. So while our agents collect information on them, you will collect this information for the Emperor. Or are you refusing an order?"

Alexander turned his back on Kraze and sighed. "Fine, where exactly is this seer you want us to go talk to?" "Take your men to the stables; I've arranged transportation for them." As he headed out of Kraze's sight, a few choice words of Alexander's echoed behind him. "Fine, see what I care, we're going to bill you all the same. If you want to pay us our rates for servant work I'm not going to put up that large an argument over it."

A brown haired brown eyed youth met them outside the stables. "Hey, I'm Futch, I'll be taking care of your transportation. " Alexander was in a bad mood after his concentration with Kraze. "Which will consist of?" Futch smiled, the smile that Alexander had seen far too many times on James' face.

It was the smile of a young man too old to be an adolescent, but not yet having discovered that life was unfair and that their death was a not only a considerable possibility, but a sure thing. "This." Futch stuck two fingers in his mouth and blew creating no audible noise. Alexander however grabbed his ears, his teeth slamming against each other like knights on the battlefield. "Never, ever, ever, do that again without warning me first. Do you understand?"

Futch nodded, but then he turned his attention to the sky. What had looked like a low flying bird a few moments ago now proved itself to be a high flying dragon. It landed before Futch, 50 feet from snout to tail, black scales glistening, and huge flanks going up and down with each breath it took. "Prophets of Destruction, say hello to Black. Black, say hello to the Prophets of Destruction."

The dragon let loose with a trilling chirp that was much lower and much louder then any bird call. James Firecat took one look at it, and came to a quick conclusion. "Oh man it's so cool, Alex can we take one of these with us when we leave?" Futch put on an impressive display of dexterity hopping onto Black's tail and proceeding to make his way along his mount's spine till eventually he carefully nestled himself between two outcropping's of scales holding onto one set.

"I doubt that you'll be able to, you have to more or less raise these boys and girls from the moment they hatch, and I've spent practically my life learning nothing but how to handle dragons." James held out his arms, and then attempted to snap his fingers, but for some reason he was unable to make a sound, maybe there was something about nay-kobolds that made it hard for them to snap their fingers, or maybe James was simply no good at it.

"You're about 20 years old right? Two decades, in exchange for being able to ride something like that? Seems a reasonable trade to me. Alex, can we make that part of my payment? Can I pick the color? Do you have any red eggs you don't really need and are just waiting to hatch?" Alexander put his foot down hard on the issue. "No James no, you're dangerous enough without a dragon. And besides it has been my long standing principle that pets shouldn't be allowed to have pets."

James scratched his left ear underneath his hat as he tried to wrap his mind around Alexander's last sentence. "What does that have to do with me?" Mirri put a comforting hand on James' shoulder exhaling a lung full of air that she hadn't needed to inhale in the first place. "Don't worry your furry little head about it James." Futch looked down from his position on the dragon's neck. "If you're done talking, climb into the basket so that we can get going!"

Since the Prophets were done arguing, they did what Futch asked. The dragon had a basket strapped under its chest though it was just barely large enough to hold all six mercenaries. "Okay everyone hold on to whatever is nearby except each other, cause if you fall out I may not be able to circle around to pick you up before you... let's not worry too much about that, I've never dropped anyone before!"

Alexander sighed as he wrapped both of his hands around the basket's railing yelling his reply back to Futch. "THAT'S AN EXCELLENT WAY OF TELLING US THAT YOU'RE DUE TO DO IT ANY DAY NOW!" Futch just shrugged and apparently touched Black in just the right place. "WOULD IT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER IF I TOLD YOU I SAW ONE OF SOMEONE ELSE'S PASSANGERS GET TURNED INTO A HUMAN PANCAKE LAST WEEK?"

The dragon let loose with a mighty roar and then began to beat its wings and rose quickly into the sky. Alexander wanted to ask why the hell they had to take a dragon flight to get where they were going, but the powerful winds which began to buffet them would have scattered even the loudest yell to four corners of Suikoden never to reach its intended target's ears.

Besides, they got their answer fairly soon: it might not be the safest or most enjoyable method of travel, but going by dragon was damn fast and Alexander would always have a place in his heart for the ugly and unpleasant yet efficient things in the world. The dragon set down on a small island and Futch slid down off of Black's neck pointing at a large tower, the only true building on the island.

"That's where the seer is. I'd like to take you closer, but every time anyone goes near it the wind gets so fierce that it can blow even a dragon off course. It's just not safe to fly any nearer. You'll have to go the rest of the way on foot." Alexander climbed out of the basket and sighed. "Winds that can make a dragon fear to go near some place? Suddenly I think I'm starting to see why Barbarossa needed us to handle moving a few scraps of paper."

Mirri climbed out of the basket, apparently glad to once again have her feet on solid ground (travelling over bodies of running water was not any vampires idea of a good time) and took a moment to estimate the height of the tower. "Well as they say, it is nice to know you're needed." So sure enough the six headed out on foot, taking off at an impressive pace and reaching the tower in reasonable time.

At which point the wind started up. The tower was one long spiral staircase leading upwards, and there was no obvious way inside. Which left those who tried to climb the stairs to face one blasts of wind after another, each and every one threatening to blow them right off the steps, thus sending them plummeting towards the ground which was growing farther and farther away with every step they took toward their destination.

"Am I the only one who thinks there's something wrong with this wind?" Devi gave Cal a slight push up the stairs when he had stood still for what she reckoned was too long. "The wind is only out here when we are... it isn't natural." Florence who was second in line behind Alexander asked the only question she could think of concerning the situation. "Well then, what are we going to try and do about it?"

Alexander mentioned for the others to stand still and try to grab whatever perilous holds they could while he took one more step forward. "The longer we stay up here the worse it gets, so one of us should try to get to the top as fast as possible. I've got Masamune to weigh me down so I'll be fine, you five head back down." A single look made sure that his order would be obeyed and then Alexander took off with everything he had towards the top of the tower. In his wake the other five Prophets of Destruction began to slowly and surely make their way back down to the ground.

Alexander stood on the roof of the tower in the eye of a swirling storm. "Whoever the hell you are, make yourself visible. I'm here to see the seer in the name of Emperor Barbarossa and I'm not leaving till I do. If I have to tear and/or cut this entire building apart, brick by brick, I will." "It won't be necessary."

A man who looked about the same age as Futch suddenly landed on the roof besides Alexander. He had brown hair and blue eyes that were filled with far more wisdom beyond his apperent age. He was wearing a green robe with several dozen arcane symbols drawn on it in white. Alexander crossed his arms looking at the young man as if he was only a hair's breath away from drawing Masamune and using it. "And you are?"

"Luc, Mistress Leknaat's apprentice. One of her wisdom would frequently be bothered by fools who have no understanding of the true scope of her power if it was not for my actions." "Yes Luc, but you should be a bit less antagonistic towards some of our guests."

A black hole opened beside them, and a woman wearing a blue cloak stepped out of it. Her hair was dark black and her eyes were deep black pools. The wind died at once and Alexander in turn stopped reaching his blade, though he did not look significantly put at ease. "Leknaat, since when were you a seer who worked for human rulers?"

Leknaat looked deeply into Alexander's golden eyes. "Some wolves find it easier to survive in this world by being dogs. As a seer, between most people's casual disrespect and a few simple precautions I am able to train Luc and study in peace. You know, you and he have a great many things in common..." Alexander cut Leknaat off then and there.

"Don't get started. We can chat about the past and our mutual acquaintances later. At the moment I'm here to pick up some readings that you were hired to complete. So I'll be taking them and going." Leknaat reached into her robes and pulled out a scroll, pressing it into Alexander's hand. "Here are the readings. You would read them before you delivered them, so I'll save you the time.

I inform the Emperor that change is coming to the Scarlet Moon Empire, and unless he embraces it, change will embrace him." Alexander carefully tucked the scroll into a pocket sewn into his black outfit and gave it a quick jostle to make sure it wouldn't come loose any time soon. "If you're here, then it means that things are either worse then Barbarossa knows, or worse then he told me."

Leknaat gave Alexander a pitting look that he was not used to getting and did not enjoy one bit. "It is odd Alexander that one as wise as you makes the same mistake as almost everyone else who makes use of my services. You waste your breath asking questions to which you already know the answer." Alexander sighed as he turned and tried to make out Barbarossa's palace, hoping that his current height would make it possible even at this distance.

"You only really care about one thing Leknaat, and it's the same damn thing that I care about. So why is it that every time we have a conversation, I feel like finding a wall and banging my head against it? That, I assure you, is a question to which I can find no answer." Luc glared at Alexander's back like he was tempted to give him a push over the edge he was standing ever so close to.

"Mistress Leknaat has knowledge beyond your ken sellsword..." "Luc, still yourself. Alexander and I have met many times over the years. The answer to your question, by the way, is that it is a manner of perspective. I can see the ebb and flow of events, but only so long as I do not participate on them.

Much as a fisher can see fish in a deep river, but only so long as he stays out of it. Should they lower their head into it then their vision will be blurred by water and everything will become one muddled swirl. You on the other hand Alexander are a fish, you can see what is before, look at what is beside you, and hopefully remember what is behind you, but no more.

I sit back, wait for events to come to me, you reach out and grab what you want. That is why we don't understand each other, or at least you have difficulty understanding me." Alexander turned on his heel and headed for the stairs. "So what is it about this place that made you decide you'd do better if you laid low?" The answer he got was the last one he expected.

"Windy is my sister." Alexander Diamondclaw was rarely surprised, but it did happen and now was one of those times. "Hell, that just makes it all wonderful doesn't it? Oh and I couldn't help but notice that she looked something like the Emperor's late lamented wife. This is just going to be loads of fun. Oh well, at least that explains the feelings I got from her.

Now, I've truly do have to be going. Luc, if you don't mind spare me the wind show this time." Leknaat gave her appetence a pointed glare and Luc quickly spat out words. "I'll do more than that, I'd be glad to help you descend from the tower safely and quickly." Alexander turned back around to face the younger man, crossing his arms over his chest. "If something goes wrong with your magic, I'll find a way to land on you."

Luc took Alexander's words quite seriously, and would clearly rather not followed up on his own offer, but another look from his teacher left him with no choice. "Then I'll make sure not to drop you." A strong gust took both Alexander and Luc from the top of the building. It spun around them as they plunged downwards, and pushed against their feet to slow the fall.

By the time they finally touched down at the base of the tower, both did it with the softness of a feather. Luc managed a quick smile, evidently a little surprised at how well it had gone. "There, how was that?" "You didn't drop me." Luc didn't stick around waiting for the praise he was unlikely to ever get, he simply jumped into the air and once again swirling around him but this time actively lifting him up instead of just slowing his fall. Alexander returned his attention to the other Prophets of Destruction who were waiting for him at the base of the tower. "I got what we came for. Let's get out of here."

"So you got the astrological readings, I see you're not compelte fools." "Very well done, you managed to get what we asked you to." Alexander fought back the urge to have a vein in his forehead burst and drown the two men before him in blood. At least Kraze tried to look the part of a military man. He even went through the trouble of staying in shape, (probably due to an intense regiment of mustache curling) his subordinate Kanaan didn't even go that far to judge from the thick layer of paunch covering his midsection.

"We have a more important mission for you to handle now." "This mission is extremely important to the Emperor, do you understand?" Alexander wondered if Barbarossa realized what had happened to his once splendid Scarlet Moon Empire. Alexander had been here for less then a week, but this was an experience guaranteed to take the shine off the apple.

"Listen carefully, east of Gregminster and this castle you'll find a town called Rockland." "Understand? Rockland, east of Gregminster." Alexander looked to his right and squinted. They were out there, he was sure of it. They should be seated right where he was looking had the stagehands not done such an excellent work constructing this faux castle.

"They have stolidly refused to pay the Emperor's taxes." "Those upstart peasants have refused to pay the Emperor's taxes!" The last time Alexander had checked Barbarossa had been a good Emperor as you measured such things, he knew his ass from his elbow and was in the habit of hiring military commanders who did as well. But apparently Barbarossa's mind had gone in a somewhat more insidious manner then those men who woke up some day and couldn't remember their names.

"So I you mercenaries will get to Rockland at once." "You sellswords will be provided with horses and are expected not to spare them on your way to Rockland." Things had apparently changed in the Scarlet Moon Empire, and somewhat drastically for the worse. After all, why only have one incredibly incompetent commander when you could have two? "You're to let them know that their taxes are due." "Go to Rockland and let them know the emperor isn't pleased, they must send him their taxes!"

He had walked through what looked like a perfectly normal castle's doors, then somehow found himself walking onto the stage of some theatrical group performing a farce. There was not other reasonable explanation for the sights and sounds he was currently registering. "Be quiet!" "Yes, shut your yap while Commander Kraze talks!"

They had reached what James would call critical joke mass. The point where the jest had become so ludicrous and implausible that even those involved in it realized exactly what they were doing and therefore had a tendency to stop in a mostly wasted attempted to look less foolish than they really were. "Kanaan be quiet while I give Diamondclaw his orders, understand?" The Sub-Commander just nodded dumbly. "Yes sir."

Without his partner in foppery Kraze continued. "So you will go, and if they refuse to offer up the tax money or some damn impressive reason why they don't have it, then the Emperor encourages you to take it out of their hides. It's a small village and the Emperor trusts that you won't have any trouble in that area. Kanaan will accompany you and report to me how you handle the situation." Alexander bet the Sub-Commander would have plenty of time to observe and report on said observations, since it was obvious that he wasn't going to do any of the fighting.

One horse ride later (all of the Prophets of Destruction we re very good riders, and looked even better compared to Kanaan who rode like a sack of potatoes) they arrived. Upon first reaching Rockland Alexander lead the way to the Mayor's residence, it was easy to pick out since it was the largest house in the city. The door was locked, so he quickly called Cal over.

The strange looking weapon with the word "Phoenix" etched along its length was pointed directly at the door knob, and a small light show and a loud crack later, a bullet flew from its barrel. By the time the bullet came to a stop, Alexander could simply push the door open, and be quite sure that no one would be locking that door in a long time. At once he found himself face to face with the servant who looked askance at him. "Get the Mayor."

The Mayor came fast all right, full of bluster just like most officials with plenty of rank but little actual power. He had black hair, looked to be in his thirties and was wearing a white jacket, red shirt and brown pants. "Who the hell do you think you are?" "Alexander Diamondclaw, Prophet of Destruction, currently in the service of the Emperor as Sub-Commander Kanaan can inform you."

It was at this time that most people in Gardy's condition suddenly went pale. But for some strange he seemed overjoyed by their arrival, that was new. "Wonderful, I'm so glad to see you here! With the aid of imperial soldiers this will all be wrapped up in no time." Kanaan made sounds as if he was about to say something, but Alexander cut him off. "Yes that's what I hope as well. Now hand over the money you own Emperor Barbarossa and we'll put this town behind us."

Gardy seemed to be operating on a different wavelength then Alexander however. "No one told you? We had our tribute all ready to send when some bandits stole it from us. Of course brave fighters like you should have no trouble dealing with the bandits and returning what they took to the Emperor. The bandits in question are said to have a base in the foothills of Mount Seifu, if you could take care of them then every villager would be in your debt." This time Kanaan successfully did manage to get the first word in edgewise. "Of course we'll take care of those thieves! That is why the army exists after all, to protect the nation's citizens. We'll be after them at once."

Alexander firmly brushed aside Kanaan's words. "By which Sub-Commander Kanaan means that we'll leave with morning's first light. Tonight we'll be staying here. Just to make sure that we don't find any evidence that you're trying to hide the tribute money from the Emperor and blaming it on bandits." Gardy didn't yank the hem of his garment, but from the way a bead of sweat began to form above his left eye he was not exactly in love with this concept. "Umm, of course. I would be glad to offer the full extent of my amenities as humble as they are to those who fight in our defense."

Cal tossed his gun on the bed he had decided would be his for the evening. "Well whatever he says, it still felt to me like Gardy was less than ecstatic to see us." Devi tossed her flail so that it expertly coiled itself around what had probably been originally designed as a coat rack. "When is anyone ever glad to see us Cal? We're soldiers, that means that whenever we run into some medium level muckity muck, we sleep in his mansion, drink his wine, and eat his food and don't even bother to say 'thanks' afterwards.

Not to mention because we're foreign mercenaries, so he can't do a damn thing about tracking us or our families down to give us our comeuppance once the war is over." Cal sighed excessively as he began to get to work on the buttons on his coat.

"That's a good point, do you think we should be more gracious in situations like this?" Devi casually pushed down on the bed. "Hell no, screwing with the local nabobs is one most rewarding parts of this job." "Next to actual reward money of course." "You actually consider picking up reward money a job? Cal, my heart goes out to you."

End Chapter two


	3. Chapter 3

Ronin Trip

FN: Once again, everyone who sees this message is encourage to leave reviews!

Book one: For want of a rune

Chapter three: People are bastards, bastard covered bastard with bastard filling.

The arrow went perfectly through Kanaan's hat, making him let out a shriek of fear. "You fools, what are you doing just standing around? The bandits have probably already surrounded us, look what you've let them do!" Alexander sighed excessively in response to the Sub-Commander's fear. "Relax, nobody can 'miss' that well, it was a warning shot. The bandits themselves should be making themselves known any moment now."

Sure enough a moment later a man with brown hair and eyes stepped out from behind a tree to face Alexander. "What do you think of my brother's marksmanship? Now your turkey is perfectly skewered and ready to be served." Alexander reached for, but did not pull his trusty blade Masamune from its sheath. "Listen, I had to ride all the way to Mount Seifu from Rockland, and then I had to contend with half hiking half climbing all the way to get here.

So dispense with the overly dramatic introductions, hand over the tax money you stole, and no one gets killed. Sound fair?" The brown haired man didn't apparently. As the man spoke he spun a large golden axe around his head. "What? Tax money? You dare accuse me, the great Varkas, the Whirlwind Axe of descending to something so paltry as stealing money from the Emperor's personal thieves?

I am wounded, I am all but slain by this outrage! I and my brother will teach you and that petty clerk you travel with proper respect! Isn't that right, Sydonia? Why don't you introduce yourself?" A slightly younger man dropped down from the tree branch he had apparently been perching on. He had black hair and brown eyes and a most disinterested look on his face. "Heh. Why bother?"

Since he wasn't going to say it himself, Sydonia's compatriot took over for him. "That is the mighty Silent Marksman Sydonia whose arrows can impale a hawk in flight at a hundred yards! Together, his arrows and my axe are unbeatable. Many have tried and all have failed to roust us from our chosen roost..."

As usual whenever some bad idea was floating around them, it could only remain in their presence for so long before James latched onto it with a vengeance. He reached into his jacket, pulled out a pair of knives and stepped forward, starting to spin the knives in a very impressive display of dexterity. "Bah, you have obviously never faced foes of our caliber.

We are the Prophets of Destruction, foreseeing the demise of all those who oppose us. My name is James Firecat. Inu-kobolds may bark incessantly about their honor a skill in battle, but I sit contentedly next to a mountain of dead rats slain by my mighty teeth that bite and my claws that catch! My knives can find the weak spot in any defense and then pierce to the very heart of the matter!"

Cal watched James' actions and then sighed excessively, burying his face in his right hand. "Oh god, at this rate they could go back and forth for hours. You, guy with the arrows, one word, bang." Sydonia fixed his eyes on Cal. "Bang?" He repeated the word questioningly. Blue lightening arced up and down Cal's weapon and then the sound was repeated for a third time as the weapon discharged.

The bullet snapped Sydonia's bow in half, Cal smirked as he yanked a lever on Phoenix, causing a spent bullet casing to fly out of it still trailing smoke. Then he reached into a small brown pouch he had brought with him on a strap pulled out another bullet, slammed it into the same place the empty bullet had shot out of, and yanked the lever closed. Phoenix swung towards Varkas and with another arc of electricity, it launched a bullet in his direction.

Varkas of course was perfectly ready to block the bullet with his large axe. He was not, however, ready for the massive shock he got as the electricity that had apparently transferred itself from Cal's arm to the gun, to the bullet, to the axe, and now into his body. He dropped to the ground and began to jerk about like a fish out of water.

Finally Cal proceeded to shift his grip and bash the butt of his gun into Sydonia's face, as an archer with a broken bow wasn't in the most defensible of positions. Cal glared down at the two unconscious bandits. "Listen up you primitive screwheads, this is my boomstick. It's Harmonian engineering at its finest, freaking centuries ahead of anything you understand about warfare. Of course you probably knew that already, but I enjoyed proving it."

Kanaan squealed with glee with the way the situation had unfolded. "Excellent, excellent, thanks to my brilliant leadership, we've subdued the tax bandits." Mirri looked at him and then shifted her gaze to James. "Jeez, this guy wouldn't last five minutes dealing with real cutthroat mercenaries. Hasn't he ever heard of the expression 'friendly stab'?"

Alexander was equally unimpressed with Kanaan's "leadership" not to mention the man himself. "Capturing these two doesn't do us much good unless they find the money they stole, which odds are, they've already pissed away on ale and whores. That said, James, you and Mirri go check out that cave over there; we'll wait here." "We most certainly will not, let's take these two bandits back to civilization so that they can properly be dealt with!"

Alexander sighed again as he easily hefted Varkas and his axe up with one arm. "Cal, grab the other. We'll go with the Sub-Commander back to Rockland, you four should be able to catch up with us before we get there." Why they'd be able to catch up didn't need to be openly said, next to the Prophets of Destruction Kanaan set an incredibly slow pace.

So those three started down the mountain and James and Mirri went into to work while Florence and Devi watched the mouth of the cave waiting for them to complete their search and leave it. There were three things about James and Mirri that made them perfect for the job of searching for treasure. First off, James and Mirri both had excellent dark vision, secondly James had insatiable curiosity that wouldn't be satisfied until he had explored every crack and crevice. Finally, Mirri as a vampire could transform her entire body into shadow which would allow her to actively flow through every single crack and crevice that James wanted to explore.

Eventually the two walked out carrying a small wooden chest that either one could have lifted just fine on their own. They set the chest down before Florence and Devi, James smirking all the while at the other women. "This thing had so many locks on it that you'd think it belonged to Head Priest Hikussak of Harmonia himself, but Mirri snapped them off, and then we looked, and then, wow! Trust me, when you see what is inside you'd really think that it belonged to Head Priest Hikussak of Harmonia!"

Without further ado Devi kicked the chest's lid back revealing its contents. "Sweet merciful crap! Is that...?" Mirri kicked the lid closed and nodded. "Let's not waste our time asking each other rhetorical questions, it's not the first one any of us have seen by a long shot. Of course if our Sub-Useful tagalong asks us what's in this chest then we tell him it's filled with rations we found that haven't gone bad yet."

Florence looked at the closed chest lid and sighed. "This won't end well you know. There is only one plausible reason why they could have had this, and yet not used it on us, and that's because they were saving it for someone else. Ordinary bandits don't operate that way. That's the hallmark of people fighting for a lot more then profit. We need to make sure to find out who this thing was intended for, and then give them something else entirely."

--

As the Prophets of Destruction walked back into the city, they were unable to avoid noticing the trio of imperial guardsmen currently in the process of applying a fairly heavy beating to a young man. "Stupid brat, you aren't even worth the dirt I'm getting on my boots doing this! I'll teach you to respect those the Emperor trusts his power with." Kanaan watched it happening and said nothing. Alexander on the other hand, at once wrapped his arm around Kanaan's shoulder.

"Excuse me Sub-Commander but I think we should be about reporting our success as soon as possible." Cal nodded and the two walked off, Alexander more or less dragging both the imperial and his prisoner while Cal carried his own bandit. Which left James, Mirri, Florence, and Devi watching the beating. They quickly turned to one another with Florence taking charge.

"Alex isn't here but he has an established system for dealing with this problem. Devi, since both our boys are away, it's you and me in the first round." Devi turned to face Florence curling her hand into a fist. James and Mirri faced each other with clenched hands as well, and all four shouted in unison. "One, two, three, JANKEN!" A few seconds of comparison later, James and Devi stepped back allowing Mirri and Florence to face one another in somewhat less than mortal combat.

--

"Excuse me." The three soldiers turned around. "Who the hell are you, his older sister?" Florence put her hands on her hips. "No, I'm just a woman who doesn't like to see children get hurt. What exactly did he do to deserve that?" The soldier who had apparently been leading the beating spoke up. "That little brat didn't move fast enough and I stumbled over him!"

Florence smiled sweetly. "Oh I see." Before approaching the three soldiers, Florence had taken a moment to rip a low hanging limb free from a nearby tree. She previously had been leaning against it for support, but now she picked it up and used it to deal the man a ringing blow to his helmet. He dropped to the ground at once, and understandably his two friends were not exactly pleased by this development. "What the hell?" "You're going to regret that, bitch!"

The sword stroke was less than impressive, more brought about by emotion then by proper planning. Florence raised her stick and blocked it easily. Surprise filled both soldiers at the sight of a tempered steel blade failing to scratch, let alone simply cut straight through Florence's choice of weapon. That made it easy for Florence, to readjust her grip, push the soldier's blade away, and slammed her tree limb into his hand. The soldier dropped his sword as pain shot up his arm, which left him defenseless against the helmet-denting blow Florence proceeded to deal him.

That left only one soldier still standing, and after seeing what fate had befallen his partners, he quickly dropped his sword and held up his hands, palms out pleadingly. "Sorry..." He more or less wheezed out the word, as if Florence had already slammed her stick into his midsection instead of doing it just after he finished talking. He fell to his knees panting for breath. "Here's a quick lesson to you three: never, ever, attack someone weaker than you just because you can.

Because when you do, you set a very bad precedent for how those people who are stronger then you should act. And to think I didn't have to be several inches taller, or have the help of my friends to metaphorically emasculate you. I could do it physically to if I wanted to, but I think you've learned your lesson. Of course if we ever see you doing something like that again, I'll let Alexander handle you. His temper is about four times as bad as mine."

Then Florence calmly got down on her hands and knees to smile at the young boy whom the soldiers had previously been beating. "You should head back home, and if any more soldiers ever bother you again just tell them you're a friend of the Prophets of Destruction, and show them this." She reached into her outfit and pulled out a small scrap of cloth with the letters "PoD" placed in the middle of a six pointed star.

The child blinked a couple of tears from his eyes, whipped a few more out, and then proceeded to race off at which point Florence turned back to the soldiers, one of whom was still defiantly conscious. "Now then, you will never know exactly where we are, where we're going, and at what time we'll get there.

So I suggest you tell your buddies and the rest of your friends and tell them to spread it about as well, that even if Commander Kraze isn't going to punish you officially for doing things like that, then we'll do it unofficially and there are a whole bunch of unofficial punishments that will be quite persuasive, believe me. So you'll just have to ask yourself if the slight rush you get from kicking around a kid is worth the possibility that Alexander Diamondclaw will drag you out behind the nearest shed and proceed to smash in your kneecaps in, and that's if he's in a good mood, if he's in a bad one he'll just cut them off.

Oh and I hate to mention it, it's one those things I've been trying to help him work through, but Alexander is usually in a bad mood for no reason at all, let alone when he sees grown soldiers beating up innocent children. Goodbye now..." At which point Florence gave that soldier a rap upside his helmet knocking him out as well. As the four walked away Mirri had a couple of quick words for Florence. "If it had been a girl they were attacking, I would have read your mind and beaten you at Janken." "Sure you would have."

--

Gardy took one look at the situation and smiled. "Excellent, excellent, you truly are the cream of the imperial crop." Alexander didn't like it when other people tried to put him at ease, it tended to be something they did right before they tried to take advantage of you. "We weren't able to find the money."

Gardy didn't seem to mind however. "Nonsense. Allow me to give you a gesture of the people's thanks." At which point he proceeded to press a veritable shower of golden coins into Kanaan's hands. Alexander counted as best he could; it was over 9,000 bits. "Kanaan nodded lazily as he pocketed the money. Jammed the money into every pocket he could find, in fact.

"Well then, our job here is completed, let us return to the Emperor's castle." Alexander would have argued, except that he knew that it wouldn't do him any good. That said, whatever Kanaan thought, they still hadn't gotten Rockland's tax money. Which just brought him right back to where this entire job had started, wheels within wheels.

--

Cal watched Kanaan barely managing to stay in the saddle and scowled. "You know, I could ride right by him in just such a way as to make his horse rear up on its hind legs. That bastard will fall out, spread the goo that passes for his brains all over he ground, and we can take the money that is rightfully ours, and no one will ever know."

Alexander of course vetoed Cal's idea at once. "No, if gross idiocy was a good enough reason for me to kill someone then there would be at most a hundred people left alive all across Suikoden. If it looks like he's going to get us killed, then you can surreptitiously engineer his demise in just such a manner so as to avoid any irritating questions." "Lovely."

- - - -

"You sellswords figure out whatever kind of lodging you need for the night. You can have the rest of the day off while I go inform Commander Kraze of how excellently our mission went." Kanaan raced off as quickly as he could, and none of them were sad to see him go. "So now that Kanaan has gone to take not only the money but also the credit for our hard work, I suppose there's only one thing to do: go find the most expensive inn in the city, stay there and send the bill to the Emperor."

Alexander waved a correcting finger in Mirri's face. "Oh no, not us, we're going to be staying some place better tonight." James scratched an ear as he tried to work out his superior's words. "Umm, what's better then the best?" Alexander walked over to three statues of angels shooting water into a fountain in the middle of the city. "Just watch and learn."

He approached to the most northward statue, stood on his tiptoes, reached into the statues right ear and pulled out a shinning key. "Ahh good old trusty Teo. Tonight we cut out the middle man when it comes to billing the Emperor and stay at the not inconsiderable estates of General Teo McDohl, and if just like his spare key he hasn't changed its location since the War of Succession, I also know where he keeps the good liquor."

Cal whistled a low singular note at. "Boss, you are an inspiration to us all. And I don't just mean the five of us; you're an inspiration to every single mercenary on the face of Suikoden." Alexander accepted Cal's announcement with mock humility. "I know I am, but it's still nice to here someone else say it every so often."

- - - -

They came that night. A great many men carrying a small battering ram, apparently ready to use it on the door to Teo McDohl's house. Sadly they never got a chance, no sooner did they pull back then the door swung open. Mirri Catwarrior gazed out at them like a cat that had awoken to find numerous mice tugging at its whiskers. "Don't do it. If you wake up Alexander there'll be hell to pay, and it's not coming out of my hide."

"Little late for warnings Mirri, though they should consider themselves lucky Florence and I weren't in the middle of anything either of us considered truly important. Now then, what are you men here for?" The men under Alexander's gaze at once dropped the battering ram so that they could better reach for their swords. And then Windy stepped forward. "General Alexander, Sub-Commander Kanaan said that you recently found a small wooden chest in the possession of some bandits who were stealing from us.

I would like you to turn that chest over to the Scarlet Moon Empire. After all, since we hired you to kill the bandits, it belongs to us." Alexander leaned against the doorway smirking down at her. "Actually if you took the time to check out the contract the Emperor signed with us, we have a right to keep whatever personal belongings those we defeat possessed. We captured the bandits, we found the chest, and so it and everything in it belongs to us. Not to the Scarlet Moon Empire, and certainly not to you."

Windy glared at Alexander. "Either turn the chest over to us, or else things will become very unpleasant for you." Alexander was still nonplussed. "Really? Trying to shake down Emperor Barbarossa's prized mercenaries? I have to wonder what his Majesty would think of such actions." Windy smirked back at Alexander, her face taking on a vicious slant. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

A great many more soldiers suddenly stood aside revealing Emperor Barbarossa looking extremely haggard. "Alexander, give Windy the chest." Alexander looked at the Emperor and shook his mane of silver hair. "I'm sorry Barbarossa, but that's one order I have no intention of obeying. And remember this mansion is built of stone, do you think you can easily force me and my men from it? Are you willing to destroy General McDohl's home? What could possibly be in one small wooden chest that is worth so very much to you?"

"You know what is in that chest Alexander." No sooner had Barbarossa said those words then Windy simply waved her hand. "You heard the Emperor, kill him." Alexander stood up and faced the multitude of soldiers. "Yeah right. You people, kill me? I'm laughing on the inside and barking on the outside." Alexander let out a loud bark and a few moments later, James, Cal, Devi, and Florence showed up behind him.

"Very well then, so that's how it going to be. Emperor, tell General McDohl that this was nothing personal between him and me, and he doesn't have to worry, his bottle of Highland 385 has gone to a better place. You Emperor Barbarossa, on the other hand have betrayed the Prophets of Destruction, and do not assume you will get away with it simply because you are a powerful man.

More aptly put, you are a man who has a great many targets at which we can strike. Inside a year, you'll be a broken man, having lost everything you ever loved or cared about, begging me for death. Live each day to its fullest Barbarossa, because you have so very few of them left. Which brings me to you..." Alexander's gaze shifted to the soldiers.

"Today, right now, inside the next sixty seconds one of you is going to die. Of course if you keep serving Barbarossa the odds are more of you will die in the process of trying to defend him and his against me and mine. Still, it'd be unfair and presumptuous for me to just point at one man and claim that he will die and the others will live. I'm not exactly a god after all, so understand the following is done without so much as an ounce of animosity."

Alexander pointed a finger at the soldier farthest to the left." "Eny." He proceeded to move his finger one soldier to the right. "Meany." The soldiers watched in awe as Alexander went on his merry way with this macabre game recounting his own version of a child's rhyme. "Miney, Moe, grabbed a wolf cub by its toe. When its parents bite best let go, eny meany, miney moe."

Alexander's finger finally settled on a soldier. "Sorry you poor bastard, better luck in your next life. Devi, Mirri, you know what to do." Devi's flail lashed out and wrapped around the soldier's chest. She gave it a good yank and the soldier armor and all flew straight through the air towards Mirri. Mirri's hands transformed into claws and with one quick swipe the back of his helmet had five gaps in it. She sunk her fangs through two of them, and then contentedly sucked for a few moments while the other men watched in complete and utter horror. Only after the soldier's body had gone pale as a sheet did she pull her fangs from his neck.

She smiled out at the soldiers with bloodstained lips. "The human body is imperfect by its very nature, being born in a disease with a one hundred percent fatality rate. Our brains start to slide out our ears from the very moment we draw life's first breath. The living body is in a constant state of upheaval, and never more then a few wrong orders away from complete and total self destruction. So tell me, how does it feel to know you're just a fang away from being nothing more than walking bombs?"

Then she hurled him upwards towards the roof. The soldier's body exploded and the ceiling fell just a few seconds after the Prophets of Destruction had all jumped back so that the wooden timbers created an effective barricade. Cal at once started racing upstairs. "We're gonna have to use the rum aren't we?" Alexander nodded both sagely and sadly. "Yep, times like these when your contract has been voided and the man who hired you is now out to kill you, you need all the help you can get."

Working together it didn't take the two long to shift the cabinet containing all of Teo McDohl's remaining liquor to the hole the floor that had been created when Mirri caved in the ceiling. Florence attached the necessary rope to the cabinet and then Mirri broke open another bottle to apply its contents to the rope and the cabinet. James who had been holding the other end of the rope that Florence was tying to the cabinet pulled flint out of one pocket and steel out of the other.

The soldiers downstairs had got to work using the battering ram against the wreckage, but at times piles of wreckage could be harder to shift then actual doors. Just as they were clearing away the last of the rubble, they looked up and saw Alexander Diamondclaw smiling down at them. "Sooner rather then later apparently. Oh well boys, here's your last round. It's courtesy of me but lands on you."

Cal gave the cabinet, which had been perched precariously on the edge of the hole, a shove. It fell, but it was made of stern hard wood and did not shatter as it landed. It did, however, catch fire fairly quickly as the rope that was tied around it burst into flames. As the cabinet burned, fire began to make its way towards its contents. The cabinet went off like a psychopath's idea of fireworks and completely undermined the structural integrity of the already slightly wounded house.

No one saw what happened to the Prophets of Destruction, they were too busy either running away of starring in amusement as the home of Teo McDohl collapsed right before their eyes. "Alexander, Alexander won't stand for this. Windy, are you sure it was a good idea?" The Royal Court Mage cooed words directly into the Emperor's ear.

"Do not worry about it Barbarossa, it was what had to be done. After all, we could not allow them to openly flout your power as ruler of the Scarlet Moon Empire, could we?" The Emperor trend his back on the rubble speaking as if he was in a daze. "No, of course not. We are just doing what must be done. Doing what must be done..."

AN: Janken is (to my understanding) the Japanese version of that ever so famous game "Rock, Paper Scissors" since the Suikoden series has a decidedly oriental flavor to it, you'll see little flourishes like that every so often.

End Chapter three


	4. Chapter 4

Ronin Trip

Book one: For want of a rune.

Chapter four: Highly wanted men.

AN: My roomate told me that I need to find a new editor today, but rather then leave you guys in the learch any longer I'm posting this, so be aware of the possbility that there might be more errors then in the previous three chapters. Tell me if its that obvious and I'll make sure to find a new editor post haste so they can look over chapter five.

"Open up in there, we're looking for the outlaws who call themselves the Prophets of Destruction." Alexander leaned his head back against the pillow that was his for the night in the small inn in Lenakamp. The six had struck out at night and a few carefully placed bribes had made sure everyone looked the other way up till now. "They're persistent bastards, I'll give them that, though not much else. Cal, is it a mob of civilians with pitchforks and torches or soldiers with actual weapons?"

Cal bitterly got up form his bed walked over to the door getting down on his hands and knees to look under it. "Unless they're soldiers who are wearing leather shoes instead of iron boots for no reason I think its safe to say we're dealing with the pitchforks and torches." James grunted in exasperation at that news. "Great. I mean if it was soldiers we could just chop our way through them. I'm not saying I'd feel good about it, but it'd be an option. Against the local riff raff though...?"

Mirri snorted in contempt apparently both for James' idea and those outside the door. "James, far too many of my good friends have been considerably inconvenienced by mobs of peasants armed with nothing but wooden stakes, torches and pitchforks." Alexander's eyes lazily turned to his eyes towards the rooms window. "Relax people. There's a reason that we got a room on the second floor and you all know what it is."

As Alexander stopped speaking the room was filled by the sound of blunt objects being slammed against its door. "Open it up or else!" A few moments later the air in the room began to fill with smoke. Cal still low to the ground scuttled back up but did not raise his head. "I do believe they're trying to smoke us out. Dam it this night is certainly turning out to be money well spent, I don't think they give you refunds if halfway through the night the locals realize your wanted criminals."

Florence began to casually test the window. "Alex it seems to be locked from the outside." As more spoke poured into the room Alexander stood up once again setting the weight of the world on his shoulders. "It's just one of those nights isn't it?" He drew Masamune made a couple quick slashes and then proceed to return it to its sheath. 'Well the window isn't locked any more."

James even with his keen sense of observation when it came to the obvious couldn't help but commenting on the subject. "It's also not really a window either now Alex. Windows are known for opening and closing, that's more like well just a hole in the wall. That said I think a lot of the smoke seems to be drifting out through it so we don't have to worry about the blaze they've started, or at least not until the floor catches fire." Alexander pointed towards the whatever James cared to call it. "James you leave first." "No don't!"

Everyone turned towards the grandfather clock from which the voice had come. Devi picked her flail up from where she'd hung it on the wall. "Okay Alex, we've got a room that is slowly catching fire, an opening we can slip through that's only two stories above the ground, and we've got voices coming our way from behind the clock in our room. You've yet to steer us wrong yet, what's our move? "

Alexander drew Masamune and began to slice apart the clock, not that it took him very many slices. When he was done, beneath it was the very obvious handles of trapdoor. Alexander reached down and gave them a yank pulling the trapdoor up. "James, you go first since extreme close range combat is your forte." James shot down the dark tunnel like a squirrel going down a tree.

A few moments later he shouted upwards to his commander. "Okay it's safe to come down!" Alexander felt around, found a handhold and began to use it to climb down the secret passage. After he climbed a considerable distance down he found himself in what appeared to be an underground tunnel lit by a few torches. James currently had a woman on the ground with his knees on her back and his hands pinning hers to the floor.

The woman had reddish brown hair that was somewhat held back by a yellow headband. She hard turquoise eyes, was wearing a blackish blue coat with a red shirt beneath it and white leggings. She did not seemed to be very amused by the situation. "Is this how you treat all the people who save your life?" Alexander finally let go of the hand holds and dropped to the ground next to the woman.

"Just to be clear, you didn't save our lives, we had a perfectly good escape plan of our own, your's just happened to be a better one. So who are you?" Florence had followed Alexander down, and Devi was just starting to go down after her. "Odessa Silverberg. Leader of the Liberation Army." Alexander made a small hand gesture to James, pulling his index finger back towards him while the rest of his hand was clenched in a fist.

The gesture had its desired effect. James jumped off Odessa, leaving her in a better condition to answer Alexander's questions. "Liberation Army?" Odessa nodded as Cal came into view following Devi a couple hand holds behind her. "We're a small group but always on the look for more members. It doesn't surprise me that Barbarossa didn't tell you about us. You're everything he wants to be."

Alexander wasn't buying it however. "I'm a mercenary vagabond, he's the Emperor of one of the largest nations in Suikoden. Why he hell would he be jealous of me?" Odessa laughed without any kind of mirth in her voice. "Let's see, how about because you both fought together in the War of Succession, but for some reason that I'm not going to even consider at the moment, you're still young.

He has gray hair, wrinkles and fading memory. You still stand up straight as a tree and practically as tall as one with shining hair that makes most women swoon at the sight of." "Easy there sister, he's my man and if try to jump in his pants, you'll end up landing somewhere else entirely..."

Odessa coughed slightly, evidently taking Florence's words to heart before continuing. "I was just stating facts. But most importantly, you may only command five people, but those five people give you endless respect, peerless loyalty, and respond to your slightest gesture. What does Barbarossa have?

His Empire is falling apart, he knows it and we know it. We're not even the cause, we're just one symptom of it, like vultures circling a man in the middle of a desert. You saw Sub-Commander Kanaan and Commander Kraze, do you think in a healthy nation men like them go very far in the military? After all, the army is suppose to be the most efficient system in the world for weeding out the incompetents."

"It doesn't just weed out the incompetent, it also kills of the unlucky, especially those unlucky enough to work with the incompetent. But yes, while I have seen a great many things I can't logically imagine how those two got to their current positions." Odessa nodded obviously willing to admit that she was in the presence of someone even more cynical and wordily than her.

"They were both bought on by Court Mage Windy, which brings us right back to my previous point. Ever since the Emperor hired her, he's stopped looking for another bride, and if he dies without a heir then this entire empire could crumble into pathetic infighting. He's nothing but an old man on is way out in charge of an old country. He still has Teo and the others, but once again, dieing men in charge of a dieing country.

The Scarlet Moon Empire needs to be revitilized and that is our aim, I think you could be an important part of it." Mirri made sure to close the trap door behind her and jam a pair of James' daggers through the small hatches on the underside of it, which would hopefully make it harder for anyone pursuing them. Alexander was still not truly impressed. "All I see before me at the moment is a single human woman with ideas and not much to back them up. I'm a General, I deal with realities not abstractions. Tell me why I should be impressed."

Odessa bore up better under Alexander's glare then most would of in her position. "First off as I told you I'm a Silverberg so you know I'm not exactly prone to heedless flights of fancy. Secondly I'd like to show you the extent of the Liberation Army's strength, but at the moment our tactical situation is very 'fluid' as they say. Not to mention the Emperor's soldiers have been operating considerably more efficiently then usual, which makes me wonder if someone within our ranks is a traitor.

That's why I arranged to be the only one here to see you. You are after all Alexander Diamondclaw and the Prophets of Destruction. Everyone knows you played an instrumental role in the War of Succession. If we can claim that your fighting for us, then it would be a sure fire way of proving that we're not just a bunch of idealists but a military force to be reckoned with.

Of course sadly it will be necessary for you to prove your loyalty to the cause before we take you into our confidences." Alexander began to ever so slowly reach for Masamune. "Before? If this was all some elaborate trap by the Emperor then we'd already have you, and after spending a little time with Mirri you'd be more then willing to tell us everything you know."

Odessa however had evidently considered this. "I personally believe that your 'defection' was genuine. The Emperor had more then enough going for him already then to engage in this kind of deception, soldiers have been racing up and down all over the place looking for you. But my subordinates insist you make a show of good faith, so that the others will believe what I already do. Everyone is uneasy and the fact that Varkas, Sydonia, and the item they were suppose to be protecting for me all got captured by the imperials." "Uhh actually, we did that."

Odessa turned to face James who had dared to enter into the conversation, and Mirri looked like she wanted to shove her hands across his mouth, but it would do little good now. Thus Alexander did the only thing he could, he built on what had been spoken. "We also still have possession of the item you mentioned, at least I'm pretty dam sure it's the item. We'll also be holding onto it at the moment, and as the crux of my current estrangement with Emperor Barbarossa was him trying to take possession of it from us, I suggest you don't learn from his mistake."

Odessa regained her composure and realized now was not the time to be arguing what terms she and Alexander might work side by side. "Very well then. But if it's true you were recently in Rockland, do you think you could take care of rescuing those two? From what I've heard the Governor has ordered that be strung up outside his mansion till they died of whatever 'natural causes' takes them first They're both stubborn bastards but they're only going to last so long."

Alexander looked as far down the hallway as he could. "Do you realize what your asking for? Like you said, we're wanted criminals at the top of the Emperor's shit list and your asking for us to go farther into the Scarlet Moon Empire and closer to the capital when if we'd have any common sense we'd be running like hell for the nearest border?" Alexander allowed the question to hang in the air for a moment before he answered it. "Luckily for you, I'm crazy like a wolf and my desire for revenge against Barbarossa is stronger than any short term worries about self preservation.

You have your rebels, or whatever you want to call us. Does this passage come up anywhere besides our room? Like preferably outside the inn or better yet the city? If what you've told me is true we don't have time to hang around dilly dallying. When we return, we'll have both of them alive and well with us. There's nothing else to it."

Odessa finally managed to break a smile since James had first landed on her. "It wouldn't make much sense for some place like this to have only one exit does it? I'll show you where the other exit is, I also should be able to scare up some horses for you..." "Don't waste your time. Very few people realize just how fast we can run until it is too late."

--

Ugly things happen to the human body when they're left out in the sun. Varkas and Sydonia had been subjected to the fate for far longer then any man should be The two were surrounded by a large fence that had a few purposely cut holes in it so that people could see the that befell those who opposed the Emperor. Unless they were taken down and cared for within the next twelve hours, then they would probably die.

Alexander needed only one look at the two and then turned away, his face was marked by resolution. Not the directionless resolution of one who has a seen a sight so horrific that they could only look away and wretch, but the resolution of a man who saw something was wrong with the world and now knew just what he was going to do about it.

"Cal what do you think of the weather in these parts?" Cal took off his left glove, licked his index finger and held it up to feel which way the wind was blowing. "Hmm... cloudless sky, air as dry as a bone, we're doubtlessly due for sheet lighting, and you know how lightening works, it always strikes the tallest object."

A few moments after Cal made this prediction the air was filled with the roll of thunder. Of course before it came the bolt of lightening that proceeded to zap straight through Mayor Gardy's mansion. Three more lightening bolts hit the place before the freak storm went as quickly a it had come without so much as a single drop of rain falling on Rockland.

As Cal put his glove back on people ran about getting to work with practiced professionalism and only a touch (well a couple touches) of panic. The people of Rockland knew what a danger fire was, and quickly began forming a bucket chain from the towns only well. The Prophets of Destruction joined in, at least for the few moments it for each of them to grab a buckets filled with water. That done they proceed to walk right into the burning mansion.

At which point they found themselves facing a group of soldiers. "What the hell do you think your doing?" James, and Florence both held up buckets full of water. "We're with the bucket brigade." "Ass kicking division." As soon as Mirri said the words she and the others wadded into combat.

A wooden bucket filled with water delivered upside the head could be a surprisingly effective weapon when you knew what to do with it and your opponents weren't expecting an attack. In a few seconds, the Prophets of Destruction left several unconscious soldiers in their wake as they entered the mansion's back yard. James drew two knives hurled them, before repeating the process. All four blades landed more or less right on target, and with the ropes restraining them cut the two bandits fell to the ground.

Varkas quickly took a couple gulps from the bucket that was placed nearby him but Devi pulled him back well before he could finish gorging himself. After involuntarily straining against the elf's hold for a while he gave up took a moment to inspect his saviors.

"Thank you, I've heard that men in our place can drink water till it kills them as surly as the heat would have. Say, aren't you the same bastards who got us strung up in the first place?" Devi shrugged as if helpless before absurdity of the situation. "Haven't you ever heard of catch and release?" Sydonia didn't need anyone to restrain him, he drank in small sips from his bucket and gave a single look which spoke volumes. After he'd deemed that they'd had enough, Alexander helped Varkas to his feet as Cal did the same with Sydonia.

"The Emperor disagreed with us about our payment plan. We felt that he should pay us for capturing you, he felt that he should stab us in the back and try to kill us." Varkas cracked a smile through cracked lips. "Yeah, I can see how that would piss a man off. So you're going to get us out of here?" "That's the general nature of the plan."

At first it seemed like they might be able to half pull half carry the two bandits out of the mansion without drawing any unwanted attention, but such was apparently destined not to be. "What do you think you are doing?" Alexander looked at Mayor Gardy and then shrugged.

"First we set fire to your mansion, then we knocked out some of your guards, after that we rescued the prisoners we captured for you, and now we're currently just sort of walking them out of here. Also since you were nice enough to ask, in the next few hours we're going to be taking said criminals out of Rockland, and then we'll be making sure that you don't even come close to capturing them again." Gardy could only froth and foam in anger.

"You can't do that!" Alexander casually stood up completely straight and looked down at Gardy. "Allow me to make this abundantly clear, in the words of parents everywhere 'you scream and wave your hands about a lot young man, but tell me, what exactly are you going to do about it?'" Gardy looked up at Alexander who didn't even bother to reach for Masamune, looked at Florence who had both of her small crossbows pointed at Rockland's Mayor, at Mirri who transformed her fingernails into claws, at James who was lazily twirling a pair of knives, at Cal who helped with one hand Sydonia and held Phoenix in the other, pointed directly at Gardy, and at Devi who was snapping her flail.

He very slowly began to take on step backwards, and then another, and then another. Then he turned and took off racing at a speed that impressed even Alexander. At which point the Prophets of Destruction proceeded to indeed walk right on out of mansion and the town. Everyone else was still busy fighting the blaze.

Of course just about the time the Prophets of Destruction walked outside, it seemed like the fire was mostly dieing down. At which point some power with a cruel sense of humor decided to send another jagged bolt of lightening into the mansion. It put fresh life into the fire and fresh terror into those who were busy trying to fight it.

--

That night both bandits were given more water and food, or at least as much as the Prophets had to spare. Of course the amount they had to spare was nothing to sneeze at since they were experts at foraging. So it was while they were roasting a dead deer with a quite impressive set of antlers that the eight discussed the facts of the situation. "So you've already met Odessa?"

"Yes, and we still have her item." "If you knew it was for her, and you had it, and you want her to succeed, why didn't you just give it to her?" Alexander held out a his hands, Mirri took the chest off the strap she had been wearing it on, and tossed it to him. The General held the chest as he spoke slowly and clearly. "Just because she thinks she wants it, doesn't mean that she'll want it a month after she's had it.

This thing is safe right now, and unless you want to try your skills against us a second time, then you'll be perfectly fine with them remaining that way." Neither of the two had their weapons not that it would have made any difference if they did. "Okay, just saying that something like that, if you honestly think that you six can turn the tide against the Emperor in our favor, your going to need a lot of luck and something like this, it can be very lucky..." Alexander cut him off there. "It can also be very unlucky. Now eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we kill."

End Chapter four.


	5. Chapter 5

Ronin Trip

FN: Since none of you commented on chapter four (but I saw that it got more hits then chapter three, whatever that means) I'll just assume that none of you felt that there was decline in quality worth complaining about. So here's another chapter that I spell checked and edited myself)

Book one: For want of a rune.

Chapter five: Rubbing the jaw of greatness.

The group made its way back to Lenakamp in good time. Varkas took Alexander to what had to be the most run down inn in the city. In fact it was abandoned, there wasn't even anyone behind the counter. What there was behind the counter was a trapdoor leading to another secret passage, where Odessa was waiting for them. Varkas smiled at her as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the Prophets of Destruction. "Mighty fine errand boys you have here Odessa." Odessa nodded approvingly to Alexander as she shook Varkas' other hand. "They're hardly my errand boys.

They're only working with us because they have a bone to pick with Emperor Barbarossa. That said, I'm glad to see that you managed to stay alive long enough for them to rescue you. Granted you two were always stubborn, especially you Sydonia." The archer just bobbed his head slightly and said nothing. "It's a good thing you came here because I need someone to hold down the fort while I'm away for a while." Sydonia's eyes twitched for only the slightest moment and then he spoke. "Why?"

Odessa held up a several small sheafs of paper. "Because of these, we just recently obtained them from some dwarfs." "Odessa are you sure its a good idea to risk yourself in such a manner?" That came from a man with grey hair, brown eyes, a brown coat, and grey pants who came up from the tunnel behind Odessa. She turned and faced him at once, and though none of the Prophets of Destruction could see it, apparently the look on her face was something to behold.

"Sanchez there is no pleazing you. If I were to send someone else to do it, you would wonder about how trustworthy they are, if I go myself you worry about my safety. One way or another these plans must be delivered to our agents in Saraday. Which is why I'll be overseeing its delivery personally, and entrusting my safety to Alexander and his men."

Alexander just barely managed to speak before the other "Liberators" present could raise cries of protest. "That's a big risk." Odessa clenched the hand holding the sheafs of paper into a fist, crumpling them slightly. "Risks of some kind mus be taken to make victory even a possibility in a situation like ours, we do not have the luxury of simply resting on our laurels as the Emperor does.

And so we will depart from this place as soon as I can make sure that you have everything well in hand Varkas." James held out his hand pleadingly. "What exactly are these plans?" Sanchez's looked as if he was about to have a fit at that idea, but Odessa handed the papers over to the nay-kobold without an ounce of hesitation.

"Everyone knows that in war it is important to know the enemy, but few people realize what is right before their eyes, that they must also know their allies. The Prophets of Destruction are no common mercenaries, are known for never betraying their contracts, and giving swift vengeance to those like Emperor Barbarossa who make the mistake of trying to cheat them out of what is their's.

They are trustworthy, and it only makes sense to let our trustworthy allies know everything we do." James took the sheaf of papers, flipping through them the look of perplexity growing more rather than less prevalent. "What exactly are these the plans to?"

Thankfully there were more well schooled minds at hand. Cal easily looked over James' shoulder and needed only one look to ascertain the documents nature. He whistled enthusiastically. "Hot dam, firespears..." Creating a three person long chain, Devi peeked over Cal's shoulder so she could see the papers as well. "What exactly is a firespear?"

Cal tried to step back, realized Devi was behind him, and side stepped to get out from being directly behind James. "Firespears are a uniquely dwarven weapons. Of course the Howling Voice Guild understands all the technoligy involved perfectly well, but they're considered an antithesis to the policy of 'one shot one kill' so we stick to our guns.

Firespears can be as dangerous to person holding them as the person they're pointed at, they're all but impossible to properly aim, but for all that, a man would have to be a utter and complete fool to directly attack an enemy force armed with them. If you want to get these things into production, then it can only mean that your planning on open war sooner or later."

Odessa nodded again, choosing to address Alexander instead of his men. "Like I told you from the start, our goal is not rebellion but the liberation of the Scarlet Moon Empire from Barbarossa's culches. The shortest root to that goal lays over the defeated wreckage of his armies. With a weapon like this, victory on the battlefield is much less of a dream and much more of a possibility."

Alexander's right eyebrow rose slightly, and then his lip twitched upward. "A daring but not foolishly blind manuver I approve, the dwarf's have no great love for Barbarossa. More importantly, it matters not what the odds of you gaining the plans were, you have them.

If you feel that whatever lays between you and Saraday is dangerous enough to warrant us escorting you there personally, I will not object. After all, at the moment we haven't had much time to examine the situation while you've obviously been planning to try and remove Barbarossa from power for months at least. As long as you can supply the brains, we'll be on hand to give you a more then adequate supply of brawn."

--

"This tea tastes bitter." "That's probably because of the poison." Odessa twisted her head around with whip like speed, her eyes shooing as far open as they could go. "WHAT?" Mirri put down her own empty cup taking a moment to elegantly stretch her fingers. "It's only something we've seen at every single inn that is effectively in the middle of nowhere.

They told us that we simply have to stay here since they are the only place to stay anywhere on the Mount Tigerwolf trail. Then they offer us free glasses of their, 'world renown' tea, which as I said, is poisoned. Don't worry, the stuff its the put you to sleep rather then kill you kind of poison. Of course the own probably intended to take all our money and other valuable possessions and leave us in a ditch somewhere. If you need proof of that, watch my hand."

Mirri leaned over waved a hand in front of James' face, the nay-kobold evidently having fallen asleep with his eyes open. Then, for extra emphasis she pressed a finger to the center of James' forehead. James leaned backwards and his chair fell to the floor, causing him to roll out of it, still sound asleep.

"Of course the others as you may have noticed chugged an inordinate amount of this stuff so that the poison would effect them like normal. You on the other hand, those couple sips or so should be more then enough. Your eyelids are probably already getting heavy, I'd suggest against trying to fight it.

At the end of the day that's what being alive means, you're held hostages to your body's needs and desires, not to mention its cycles. Oh True Runes don't get me started about the cycles..." Odessa nodded lazily, well actually more like her head went forward, and then kept going forward until it bumped into the table and stayed there. Mirri meanwhile just lazily put her feet up on the table and twiddled her thumbs.

Eventually the inns owner who had served them the cups of poisoned tea came into the room. By that point, Mirri was using one of James' blade to clean the remnants of a couple monsters she had slain on their way to the inn out from underneath her fingernails. The black haired, blue eyed man took one glance at the sight before him, and suddenly looked just about ready to jump out of his skin.

Mirri stopped using the knife for hygienic purposes and pointed it towards the inn's owner. "My companion's constitutions seem have to have been overcome by poison you less then stealthily served to them. I on the other hand, being a vampire have no constitution. I would therefore appreciate a free nights stay, and a bottle of the strongest saki you have to wash the taste of poison from my lips."

The man just stood there and Mirri raised the knife so that instead of pointing at his chest it was pointed at his head. "Go, scamper of, be quick like a bunny or I'll demand that saki with a chaser of your blood." A few moments later Mirri was sitting at the table with a bottle of the strongest saki the poisoner had been able to find.

She leaned backwards in her chair taking an extremely long pull from the bottle, up until the point that she landed firmly on the ground and rolled out of her chair to come to a stop next to James. "One for me..." She grabbed James' jaw and pulled slightly opening his mouth. Then she pored a generous dollop on the saki down James' throat, proceeding to rub his neck to make sure it went down properly. "And one for boytoy." Mirri began to study the floor of the inn for the simple reason that it was currently at eye level.

"Dam it, why am I always the last one to pass out?" She took another long drink before she answered her own question. "Obviously because just like I told that jackass who wanted to frisk us for spare change, there's nothing in this bottle that can actually affect me. Well at least it has a decent smooth taste." Then she casually rose back to her unnatural ease and smoothness of motion.

She placed the depleted but not quite empty bottle back on her table before picking up Odessa's still mostly full cup. "Oh, by the way our good host, you simply must try some of this delightful beverage you served us with." The man began to protest as Mirri approached him, but her next caveat made him go quite.

"It's either that or I'll have to slit your throat to make sure you don't do anything to harm those I'm travelling with. Because believe me, their safety is worth a thousand times more to me then your life. So do you really wish to put yourself in a position where I can only have one?" The man stood very still as Mirri poured the tea down his throat, and just like James she rubbed it to make sure she swallowed.

Then she waited until the man collapsed on the floor. At that point she carried Florence and Alexander off into one room, Cal and Devi into a second, Odessa into a third room, and finally James into a fourth. All that done, she laid out the poisoner who had been hosted on his own petard on the table and began to rummage around the inn. It didn't take her long to find where the inns meager stock of alcoholic beverages, hopefully it should prove quite sufficient for one vampire who was thirsty for something other than blood.

--

The tall man had grey hair, and a mustache of the same color, he was wearing a white and purple outfit. As he entered into the inn he was greeted by a female voice that was slightly off kilter. which suggested its owner might have had one too many. "Come on in, the party is just getting started!" The syllables were oddly placed, like a drunken man who wasn't quite sure where to put his feet, but each and every one of them was still finally crafted and without any kind of slurring.

A woman with unusually pale skin (especially considering that her face should have been flushed in the given situation) was sitting at the inn's table with her feet upon it, and five empty bottles laying within her arms reach, another in her right hand, and a seventh within easy reach. The man spluttered for a moment.

"Who are you and where is Ledon?" The woman raised the bottle and did something with it that Kessler had never seen a woman do before. She pulled the bottle back and assumed the stance of someone about to turn a bottle of liquor into a thrown projectile, and against men without armor such things could be ever bit as deadly as a crossbow bolt.

"My name is Mirri Catwarrior, and who by the way are you? I'll assume that Ledon is the man who owned this place and serves poison to unsuspecting customers? I drunk him under the table, look." Kessler did, and indeed Ledon was currently laying relatively unmoving (obvious unconscious rather then dead by the motions of his chest) underneath the table.

"My name is Kessler and it would seem you have me at something of a disadvantage." Mirri grabbed the full bottle with her other hand, yanked its cork out and took sip from it without ever relaxing the arm holding the bottle aimed at him. Only once she was finished drinking from it did she respond, this time her words were utterly unimpaired by the impressive quantity of liquor she'd drunk recently.

"Dam straight I do. You take one step away from me, and you'll get this in the face or the back of the head, whichever one closer at the time. Now then, I assume you were probably a step above Ledon since your dressed considerably more stylishly. Likewise this is doubtlessly not an Imperial operation. So the question is, are you bandits or are you rebels?" Kessler shrugged. "In the Scarlet Moon Empire at a time like this, who can tell? Besides, both of them carry the exact same punishment. So I fail to see why it makes a difference."

Mirri gestured with the fuller bottle in her left hands towards one of the rooms. "Because in there I have one Odessa Silverberg currently out cold, apparently this tea really is top notch for helping someone get to sleep after a hard days work." Before Mirri could go any farther, Kessler's face flashed with rage. "I don't believe you." "Why not?" Kessler's hands began to curl into fists, but his rage was directed not at Mirri, but the unconscious man beneath her.

"Because there's no way that Ledon would be foolish enough to serve poisoned tea to Odessa Silverberg the hero of the revolution!" "Heroine of the revolution." Kessler shot a very odd look at Mirri who only shrugged in response. "Hey women get few enough chances to make history the way the world is set up, If we don't look after each other then who is going to? After all, time and time again it has been proven that the common man doesn't exactly have our best interests at heart."

Kessler suddenly had the distinct sensation that he had put a foot down in what had looked like a puddle, but was apparently in actuality a pool thousands of feet deep and he was rapidly being sucked deeper into it. So he did the only thing he could, backpedaling the conversation as quickly as possible. "Show me Odessa and then we will discuss her place on the pages of history and by what name she should be remembered."

Mirri stood up, continuing to point towards the same door with her mostly full bottle. "Fine then, don't trust me. Go open up that door and take a look for yourself." Kessler did just that since it was obvious that Mirri wasn't going to let him out of her sight. He needed only one look at her crumpled sleeping form to see the truth of her words. "That dam fool!" Kessler spun around and sighed powerlessly before Mirri. "I am just as much the victim in this farce as you are.

Ledon should have been able to recognize Odessa on sight. Don't worry. I know where he keeps the ingredients and how to make an antidote to the poison, once she is awake she will vouch for me." Mirri motioned for Kessler to lead the way. "Fine, but I'm checking what you put into the antidote and seeing how it smells, don't think that you'll be able to get away with giving her a dose of something even more dangerous."

Kessler nodded and got to work, it didn't take him long to make he antidote and it passed Mirri's examination. A few moments after he served it, Odessa's eyes slowly began to flicker open. "Kessler, what is going on?" Kessler at once went down on his knees before the bed she was laying on. "Forgive me Lady Odessa, the man I had overseeing the day to day operations of this place was apparently overzealous in his actions.

If you wish, I will gladly make him pay for such indiscretions with his head!" Odessa slowly went from laying down to sitting up on the bed, evidently using the time to think deeply. "I'd rather you didn't. If you ask me his fault lays not with serving me the poison, but in serving it at all.

Yes, we do desperately need all the money that we can acquire, but to take it from the hands of unsuspecting travellers? It makes us no better then those we wish to replace. If we gain power through the suffering of others, we are likely to remain in power through their suffering. We must come into power with the aid of the people, not to their surprise or disbelief."

Kessler seemed also moved to tears by her statements. "So merciful and great is the vision of Lady Odessa!" "The problem with great grand plans like those is that people are skittish fearful creatures, prone to being more concerned about protecting what little they have then risking it to gain much more. Better the devil you know then the one you don't as they say."

Odessa, and Kessler turned in surprise, though Mirri didn't so much as twitch her eyebrows or her neck towards the newest participant in the conversation. Alexander Diamondclaw very clearly unimpaired in the slightest stood behind her. Odessa staired open mouthed at him. "I saw you fall unconscious!"

Alexander crossed his arms and exhaled in exasperation. That wasn't the first time I've been poisoned, not by a long shot. It's gotten tot he point that I barely even notice it even more, so one slight quick nap later, here I am.."

Odessa apparently got over this latest display of Alexander's skill (she had seen a few more in his dealings with the monsters on their way here) and gritted her teeth. "I don't care how impossible you think it to be, it is it is my goal and nothing will keep me from pursuing it." Alexander smiled pittingly at her. "I never said it was impossible, only difficult. But when idealists have the help from people like me who are thoroughly grounded in reality, then incredible things can be achieved." Mirri leaned menacingly on the grey haired man's shoulder. "Kessler, I suggest you make four more doses of antidote and you best be able to guess who isn't going to be getting one."

--

In the morning they departed for Sarday, reached it by mid morning, and headed for the inn. Once they were settled in Alexander faced Odessa across the table and a mug of the best beer they had. The rest of the Prophets quickly made themselves busy doing minutely important tasks elsewhere in the town.

"I think the time has come to discuss the item. It is mine and I must ask how long you intend to keep it from me." Alexander sighed, reached down for the chest that Mirri had left with him, placed it on the table, and pushed it towards Odessa. "I don't know where, or how you acquired this thing, but I have a good enough guess why. You place your hope for a better world in this rune?"

She nodded as she opened the chest and saw the True Rune within. "Yes, this matches the description my men gave me. Emperor Barbarossa has his Sovereign Rune, not to mention Court Mage Windy has her Front Gate Rune. On our own, what chance would we have against them? They already have an unquestionable advantage in both numbers and experience. Only with True Runes of our own can we hope to be triumphant." Alexander nodded slowly, as he slammed the chest's lid closed once he was sure he could do so without it crushing Odessa's fingers.

"There nothing wrong with your theories, only in your execution. True Runes are the greatest blessing and the greatest curse given to all the races of Suikoden. At worst they'll kill you straight out, at best you'll discover that you've become a walking slave to a stone you shoved into your hand because you wanted power. This thing isn't called the Soul Eater Rune for nothing. Give it half a chance, and it'll devour your life.

Friends, family, lovers, it'll consume them one and all. At the moment it is safely sealed within this chest, but if you take it out and meld it with your right hand, you'll discover too late just how high a price it demands for power. You might need someone with a True Rune, or better yet multiple people with True Runes to lead your revolution in battle, but it doesn't have to be you with the Soul Eater. Please allow me and the rest of the Prophets of Destruction to be the vanguard of your revolution."

Odessa put aside the chest starring at him. "You'd do that for me?" Alexander crossed his arms glaring at her. "Don't go getting carried away with thinking that underneath all this bluster that I'm a nice person. Underneath that bluster there is the meanest most sadistic son of a wolf bitch to ever live. I'm helping you because I swore I'd make Barbarossa regret fucking with us, and the most obvious and effective way to break a man like Barbarossa to take his empire away from him. Something that your revolution plans to do to him.

The enemy of my enemy when they have no feelings of an antagonistic nature towards me and vice versa, is at the very least my possible defacto ally. We have common goals... and that's all there is to it. Having you die halfway through leading a revolution would be quite inconvenient for me and my men. Besides, it's not like I'm offering you anything new, I told you from the start we'd be interested in helping you."

Odessa nodded very slowly and looked like she was tempted to go for Alexander's drink since she lacked one of her own. "I know. It's just that here's a big difference of wanting to work with us, and wanting to be at the very forefront of whatever shape things take. So even if it is only fate that makes us allies, I still feel like you are disserving of my thanks." Alexander drummed his hands on the table, and sighed.

"Then I suppose I have choice but to accept it. Now then, what do you know about the man who we're suppose to be delivering these plans to?" Odessa looked around the room and sighed deeply. "He said that he would announce himself, why do you ask?" Alexander made as if to scratch his nose, in actuality pointing towards a particular occupant of the inn.

"Because I'd be willing to bet that it's that man over there." Odessa looked glanced in the direction that Alexander had pointed. "What makes you so sure?" Alexander took a long sip from his drink before responding. "Simple. Because I recognize him, I've even had the unsavory experience of working with him. His name is Kage, and if he isn't working for you then he's dead."

Odessa's yes widened with surprise. "Why do you say that?" Alexander resumed drumming his hands on the table. "Because he'll do anything for money." You're a mercenary yourself aren't you?" Now it was Alexander's knuckles that were hitting the table. "The Prophets of Destruction will accept contracts from those who can hire us.

But under those contracts even if we would build a veritable mountain from the bodies of our fallen foes, we do not harm innocents. Kage, for enough money he'd slit a pregnant woman's throat and then stab her belly a few times to make sure he got the child as well. The only reason he isn't already dead is that he hasn't committed the cardinal sin of mercenary work, accepting money to sell out someone who hired you halfway through a job. So with that in mind, I think I'm going to go say hello."

Alexander got up, walked over to a man who's face was obscured by numerous rolls of cloth, and dragged him over to their table. Of course even though Kage's exact expression was impossible to make out, it was probably quite pained from the vice like grip Alexander had on his right arm. "Kage, say hello to Lady Odessa Silverberg, heroine of the revolution."

Kage was quite until Alexander twisted his arm a little bit more. "Hello Lady Odessa!" "Good boy Kage. Now then I'm sure a man as practical as you wouldn't be sitting around in this inn unless he was on a job. Knowing your love of material wealth and that there are two main players in the Scarlet moon Empire this in turn means, you are either working for the rebellion or for the empire. If you're working for the empire then I'm afraid that I can't let you walk out of this inn. So now would be an excellent time that we're allied in our struggle against Barbarossa's oppression."

"I was hired by Sir Mose in charge of the secret factory and I thought it best not to disturb you and simply take the plans to him!" Odessa's eyes quivered slightly. "Loosen your grip on him Alexander. Mose is the name of the man who is in charge of the secret factory. It could be true, Mose recently told me that one of his pigeons was sick, how is it doing?" "Sir Mose does not keep pigeons, and the secret word is munchkin!" Odessa nodded slowly and tired to give Alexander one of the "cease and desist" waves that Alexander used with the Prophets of Destruction and Alexander out of what was most likely pity for her, obeyed it.

"Very well then Kage, see you later. You had best hope that we're on the same side then to, or else I'll tell Cal to kill you, and he'll do it without even blinking. You see Kage, men like you who will do anything for money are useful to have around but only when properly controlled, and you only ever really need one of them." Kage beat a very heavy retreat out of that inn.

--

Odessa wrapped on the door and began to speak before Alexander opened it. "I wish I could be more like you, so I was wondering if you could train me because after all you're... not wearing any pants..." "Apparently you are already neck and neck with me when it comes to noticing the obvious." He was wearing some cloth undergarments, but they did nothing at all to hide just what a large... shoe size Alexander had, no wonder he wore those big black boots.

She managed to stop looking down. Which gave her a view of Alexander's chest which at the moment was uncovered. He had the powerful looking well muscled chest you'd expect from a man who spent hour after hour of his life in such energetic pursuits as running and killing people.

Odessa strove to stop blushing and form coherent words. She was unsuccessful on both counts. Alexander did not have a truly attractive face, especially when combined with his abrasive personality. However, the sight of his seminude body proceeded to send a message surging through the less civilized portions of Odesssa's mind. I went more or less along the following lines.

"Mate with this man, right now, because you will bare children who will burry anyone who dares to compete against them for food." It was nothing more than a flickering thought that Odessa shouted down, but just the act of shouting it down took a while, at which gave time for Alexander end the conversation. "I understand that normally it is impolite to leave someone standing on your doorstep but at the moment Florence would be considerably put out if I invited you in. So with that said..."

At which point Alexander slammed the door shut in her face. Odessa just stood there then began to slowly back away from the door. It had been a good idea, but the execution had been less the perfect. She headed back to her own doorway but didn't get there without having her face further rubbed in the events. "You saw Alexander crossing blades with Florence, in his pants!"

Odessa turned and because she could think of nothing else to do, waved a finger in Cal's face. "What do you care?" Cal shrugged he wasn't wearing Phoenix at the time but he was still fully dressed. "I'm a evil, evil man who likes to see people in pain weather it's physical kind of pain from me shooting them in the leg, or the psychological kind you just had from coming within a few seconds of seeing the man you so desperately wanted to respect going at it with the woman he loves. Don't worry about it though, personally, I find the fact that at time he and Florence go at it like minks in heat one of his more attractive qualities.

He's human enough that after a hard day of butchering his foes, he still comes 'home' as much as any mercenary has a home, gets pissed, and throws down like the rest of us. He also happens to be incredibly loyal to Florence, even when it means he has to beat girls off with the flat of his blade. Of course I'm loyal to Devi because otherwise I'd wake up one day with a chain tight around my neck, or rather wouldn't wake up. Alexander on the other hand, its like he notes a woman is attractive the same way he notes how tall someone is."

Odessa was in no position to want to get into a long complicated argument. "Well then, as you said he is a man worthy of admiration." Cal shrugged helplessly. "He's a man worthy of admiration, but remember, admiration is the furthest thing in the world from understanding. Alexander Diamondclaw isn't just my boss, or your boss, he is THE Boss.

One of the runes own prototypes. Some kind of high-powered mutant, never considered for mass production in wombs across Suikoden. Too weird to live, too rare to die." Odessa batted an eye at Cal as she struggled to fully comprehend it all. "It's easy to couch his true nature in such terms, but really, what is he?" Cal rolled his eyes as slowly as he could. "I'll try saying this slowly, so as to make sure you get the point. There are no words in the language of elvish, dwarfish, or the tongues of men that describe what exactly Alexander is, or my joy at working for him.

If I had to pick something to describe working with him it'd probably be something like 'orgaztastic' or 'comealiscious", you know something appropriately venal. Because that's what it's like, every hour of every day your ridding the world hard, except she being an ungrateful bitch is always on the look out for a chance to get her hands or legs around your neck and strangle you.

Alexander is Alexander don't try to define him any other way. Now as much fun as I'm getting out of watching you struggle to contemplate the supercalafragalisticexpasexadociousness that is Alexander Diamondclaw, as I mentioned previously, Devi has some feminie needs that she wants me to see to.

Because being in a committed relationship means not only do I get yelled at if I spend too much time watching other women, I get yelled at if I don't spend enough time being with her , and a man has to be much stupider than me to allow himself to ever actually get yelled at for not spending enough time in bed with a beautiful elf."

With those words Cal pushed the door he had been leaning against open, and disappeared through it, though Odessa could easily hear the sound of him locking the door behind him.

--

"Who are you?" Alexander looked a Odessa and almost growled his response. "Why do you care?" Odessa did not smirk at him but she did smile slightly. "I already told Sanchez, know your allies. You recently offered to make the Prophets of Destruction instrumental to my efforts, and that means one way or another I should know as much about you people as possible.

So I felt that I could get to know them all best and by knowing you." Alexander scoffed at the very notion. "What do you expect me to do? That for some reason because I've know you for about half a week I'll talk to you about how before my very eyes when I was a child my mother was taken against her will? Or better yet how I myself was taken by some man with particularly deviant tastes? That there's some particular tragedy that befell me and transformed me into the man you see before you?

Please. The past lies as a nightmare upon the present. We are to recall the past so as to know how better to do things from past mistakes, but if we do so too frequently, then we might never escape from it. Learn from the past, live in the present. I grew up in a rough place where violence ruled rather then law.

Understand me, an unbidden request into someone's past is not to be welcomed, because it can easily become an attempt to undermine the frequently unsolid foundations of a person's mental fortress. If you know someone's past then it gives you power over them. For example tell me Odessa, how is it that a member of the prestigious Silverberg clan came to have such a love of the common man?"

Odessa just sighed helplessly at Alexander's counter attack to her probe. "So I see. You make yourself a man of iron and abandon all the petty niceties of flesh." Alexander nodded with lightening speed. "To be extraordinary is best achieved by purging everything weak or mundane about yourself.

That is the advantage of being a mercenary, you can always pull the veneer of simple greed over your actions whatever they are, and will serve as an impenetrable shield, because who goes looking for deeper motives? Where people find simple greed, they rarely, better say near never, dig deeper, because greed is such a wonderfully believable, wonderfully human, eleven, dwarven, kobaldian, lizardian, or duckian excuse for actions.

After all, who is so paranoid that when they see vice entering uproariously through the front door, they insist on trying to find out if virtue is sneaking in through the back?" That was a question that Odessa pondered all the way back to Lenakamp.

FN: If you feel sorry for Kage, just remember firstly what a jerk he is in the first game, and secondly in the second we see him working for Luca Blight, so probably not the nicest guy in the world.


	6. Chapter 6

Ronin Trip

FN: Thanks to Jojo for the review, and hopefully you'll find this chapter a little more action packed.

Book one: For want of a rune.

Chapter six: Divergent streams.

"Open up and surrender yourselves in the name of Emperor Barbarossa!" Cal spent a moment to make sure that it was metal boots on the other side of the door and then rose to his feet. "You know when people come to try and beat down the door and arrest you once in a room, that's freak chance. But when it happens twice in the exact same room, it starts to feel like you should get a refund or at least a free pot of ale since they're always trying to throw in some metal shackles with your nights stay."

Alexander was already getting to work pushing aside the clock. "If whoever is in charge of those people has even half a brain they're probably already got soldiers swarming through the tunnel below us so we might need to fight our way out. Mission objects are as follows: first make sure to stay alive, or whatever particular idiom you care for Mirri, secondly try to get Odessa or any other members of the Liberation Army out alive, thirdly kill the bastards trying to kill us, and fourthly escape.

Now then Cal, why don't you give the Emperor's men our response?" The Prophets of Destruction had been put in the same room of the same inn they had stayed in the first time they had come to city, and evidently it had been repaired fairly well or else the damage had not been all that extensive. They had been waiting for more instruction from the Liberation Army's leader when this particular fly had landed in the ointment.

Cal pressed his left thumb and index finger against the door. "Let's see, the helmet on a 90 brain dead member of the army who only knows enough to pound on doors, shout, swing his blade, ravish women, pillage and occasionally start fires, should rest right about here." Once he was sure of where to aim, Cal rested Phoenix's barrel against the chosen spot on the door. A gunshot later several cries of pain and anguish reached the Prophets quite clearly through the hole Cal had made in the door.

Said hole was just the right size for a single blue eye to look through it into the hallway as he absentmindedly reloaded his weapon with the same sort of quite confidence that most people expressed when attempting to bring a container full of liquid to their lips without spilling most of it. The eye took in the chaos that it had created in the hallway, and a moment later, it was replaced by the barrel of Cal's gun and another bullet streaked off into the hallway.

Then the group headed downstairs, once again James went down first, though this time, Mirri followed right behind him. Cal kept firing bullets into the hallway blowing chunk after chunk out of the door. James' voice echoed up from the darkness fairly quickly. "We've got space Alex!"

Alexander jumped down and found that indeed the empire's forces were note quite as well coordinated as they could have been. At the moment the immediate area below ground was clear, and the door at the end of the hallway was closed. But there was no telling how long it would remain closed for, and Alexander had no intention of just waiting for it to open. He headed for the door and yanked it open, inside he found four soldiers carrying a indistinct body. "On guard."

Alexander drew Masamune with the intention of using it to end human life for the first time since he had set foot in the Scarlet Moon Empire. The first man died even as he let go of the body to go for his blade, his head sailing from his shoulders.

Alexander's second target at least got a hand on his blade, before said hand was chopped off at the arm, and the silver haired man finished the job by cutting solider in half diagonally with an upwards backhand stroke. The third man got his blade out but Alexander cannily struck at just the very edge of his opponents gauntleted fist, slicing through the metal and cutting the flesh and bone beneath. The solider let out an involuntary shriek of pain and with equal lack of intention dropped his blade.

That made it easy for Alexander run him through, piercing his heart with one clean stab. Which left only one opponent still standing. He mad a clumsy stab at Alexander who let go of Masamune's handle, gracefully dodged the stroke shifting towards his opponent. Alexander's drove his right elbow into the man's mostly unguarded face, and when Alexander pulled it back what it left behind didn't so much look like a human face as a very badly scrambled egg.

The short battle finished Alexander began to work Masamune free from the corpse of his third victim. While his hands were busy with that task, his eyes were inspecting the body they had been carrying. It was Odessa, and she was stone dead from a very obvious stab wound to the chest.

Alexander looked down at her dead body and simply staired for a moment, and for that moment not a single word was spoken not a single action was taken out of respect for the dead. Then the pall lifted. "Only thing to do now is loot the body." No sooner were the words out of Cal's lips then he got about the task, however as he parted Odessa's closed jacket looking for whatever the imperials had not already stripped her of, he found something he most certainly had not been expecting.

A baby in swaddling clothes attempted to nurse fruitless at Odessa's left breast. Cal just staired at the baby in surprise but Alexander emotionally picked up the child and passed it gingerly to James. "Mirri scout ahead and make sure there's a clear way out and then show it to James. James go find a loving childless family somewhere in Lenakamp and stair at them with the widest eyes you can muster long with offering them an extravagant sum to take care of the child. Afterwards, catch up with us, you know how.

Now that the theatrics are out of the way, let's see if she had anything useful on her." James and Mirri took off, and while Alexander began searched Odessa, Florence, Cal and Devi searched the dead guards, eventually he took several steps away from her dead body and motioned for Florence check a few places on Odessa's corpse that Alexander wasn't about to look. It was Cal who found it though. A sheaf of parchment bound with "To Alexander" in Odessa's handwriting that one of the guards had apparently taken from her after they killed her.

He handed it over to his commander who broke the seal with a well worn fingernail and read it aloud. "Alexander if your reading this I'm dead. I probably died doing something foolish, I'm only a women from the Silverberg family after all. I could never be the epitome of a revolutionary, the way you can. If my Liberation Army had begun to achieve any real measure success the emperor would doubtlessly kill as many members of my family as he cold.

You on the other hand, as I said your everything the emperor is not, and he has no lever with which to control you actions, be it family or friends. If any man in the Scarlet Moon Empire can undue him and the evil he is currently wreaking upon this land it is you. Please bring one of my earings to my brother Mathiu in Seika, he could probably be of considerable help to you.

Take care of making sure no one ever finds my body, there should be a nearby underground river, hurling me into that should do. There will be a time when the best role I can play is a martyr, but at the moment simply telling people your acting on my orders would be for the best. Good luck, and walk softly Alexander, you tread upon my dreams."

Alexander tore the note into tiny shreds. "Cal deal with the body, make sure no can ever prove its Odessa." Cal nodded flipping Phoenix over his shoulder securing it to its strap thus freeing his hands. "Sure thing boss, even if they do find her they won't even be able to tell that she was female after I'm done with her body."

--

Ain Gide was an old man. He had fought in the War of Succession. He was one of Barbarbossa six greatest generals. He was currently in command of a fort doing very little of any importance. At least for the most part, at the moment he was looking across a dimly lit room at the man currently chained before him. "You'll have to excuse the actions of my men. These are dangerous and fearful times, people are prone to react without thinking things through. So in short, please forgive them for having you clapped in irons."

There figure in the dark cell flexed slightly, like a great dragon preparing its body for flight. "Sorry about making you replace the irons." The metal shards were tossed through the bars of the cell like the bones after a half tamed animal was done chewing on a haunch of meat. Ain looked at the broken pieces of metal, and then at his 'prisoner' if such word were suitable.

At the moment it seemed like the bars existed more to keep Ain out of the man's private kingdom then to keep this man in. "You realize, that this is tantamount to proof that you are who my men believed you to be." The prisoner shrugged as he began to eye the cell door. "So it is only 'tantamount' to proof, would I need to turn one of these iron bars into a necktie for you before you have actual proof?"

Ain slowly rubbed his chin as he considered the man who was supposedly within his power, knowing full well in reality he was anything but. "I am sure that my men can concoct all kinds of stories regarding how exactly this came to be. For example they might tell me that because your actions made you a personal foe of Emperor Barbarossa, your men abandoned you.

But my men did not come within feet of fighting shoulder to shoulder with Alexander Diamondclaw who wielded the might of ten men in his arms and his Prophets of Destruction, who time and time again went into battle, and time and time again emerged from it unscathed, practically unscratched.

I think a more reasonable guess might be that you threw yourself upon this particular pike so that it could not be wielded against your men. My men are doubtlessly so puffed up with pride over capturing you, that your companions, who obviously would have taken better precautions to disguise themselves then you did, are even as we speak moving through our checkpoints without drawing undue attention. How close am I to the mark Alexander?"

The mercenary general come revolutionary looked up at Ain and smiled. "You are so close to the mark that your arrows has sadly landed to the other side of it. Mirri?" An arm that was unusually cold suddenly wrapped itself around the imperial general's throat. There was no even colder sensation of a metal blade against his flesh, but Ain knew quite well that simple brute strength when properly applied with something more then brute intelligence could crush an airpipe with ease.

When it was a vampire's arm around your neck, well Ain had no fantasies about him surviving very long past the point that the owner of that arm wanted him dead. "I would seem to be in some mortal peril. Am I correct in assuming that I would expire before reaching the second syllable of any cry of alarm I attempted to raise?"

A voice that Ain had no trouble recognizing (there were simply not that many female voices that were just as capable of making a man shiver with fear as easily as delight) whispered the words, while a tongue only playing at playfulness brushed against his right ear.

"You are in extreme mortal peril General Gide. Your not exactly a spring chicken, and coincidentally I can snap your neck with about as much difficulty as a turkey's wishbone. Alex do you want to pull from one side while I work from the other and see who ends up holding the bigger half? Personally I'm wishing for chaos in the cities, blood up to your ankles in the streets, and a diamond studded collar for James since those first two gifts are really the kind of thing that a girl shouldn't be afraid to give herself."

While the tongue was busy attacking his ears a pair of hands ran shamelessly across his body until they found their goal. Mirri pulled out the ring of keys that Ain was wearing and tossed them through the cell door. "Here you go Sir, give a couple of those a try and Runes dam, you ain't a free man."

Alexander impudently leaned up against the bars of his cell, sticking an arm through them and trying one key after another in its lock with quiet diligence till finally he found the right one and the door swung open. "It is odd Alexander, for all your strength you do not quite wield it as a tyrant. More to the point most of the time one can not help but be taken by the innate nobleness of your spirit. Yet how quick you are to abandon it in exchange for the same petty physical threats as one might expect to get from any simple brigand."

Alexander rubbed his hands smiling at Ain. "Someone once correctly said you'll get father with a kind word and a good knife then you will with a kind word alone. Also 'innate nobleness of spirit' is usually the first thing men loose in warfare, with compassion for their fellow man, kindness towards those not directly involved, and basic human decency not far behind.

On your comparison to a common brigand, I am rather insulted Ain, I think a common brigand would not have the wit to position themselves so as to gain the upper hand against you, or else your nation would be much more noticeably overrun by brigands. Besides, if I was a brigand I would not be about to leave this room with you still alive in it, but I will do just that, possibly because the emperor's generals have not quite exhausted all the good will and respect for them I gained the last time I set foot in the Scarlet Moon Empire."

It was at this point that Ain discovered why Alexander had not simply attacked the bars of his cell with his bare hands, he had left it in perfectly working condition, so that Mirri might push Ain into it. The metal bars swung shut before he was able to turn to face the two mercenaries. "This is all together beyond the pale!" Alexander turned his back on Ain without so much as a hint of regret.. "There is a balancing act that just about every being on the face of Suikoden must take part in. Though they wish to acquire power, the more of it they gain, the more likely they are to become a prisoner of said power.

You have failed in that particular struggle, while I remain as spry of step as ever. So tell me Ain, is it just old age or some event in particular that made you stumble?" The only response this particular question gained was a few sullen words. "It is a shame it had to be this way Silver Wolf." Alexander first walked over to the wall that Masamune still in its sheath had been hung from, and once again reclaimed his blade, only after that, did he worry about making conversation.

"It is not my choice that things are 'this way' as you put it. While I have considerable power over the nature of our current interaction, it has to take its present course because of what Emperor Barbarossa decided to do. You tell me Ain, if you were in my place, would you have gladly placed the heads of yourself and your men before the headman's blade? Would you in good conscience ordered those who followed you to their certain deaths, or would you tell them to fight on regardless of the odds?"

General Gide refused to answer, instead matching Alexander question for question. "Do you seriously think you are going to be able to just walk out of this fortress?" Alexander smiled as he placed a hand on Mirri's shoulder. "Vampires make wonderful subordinates if you ever find yourself in a position to command them.

Of course the odds of such are fairly low, there aren't that many of them, even fewer of Mirri's stature, and most would never allow themselves to stoop to working for a human any more then we would consider working for cows. But Mirri and I have come to an understanding the nature of which you is unimportant.

When properly trained, vampires make soldiers of unmatched quality , sanguine of temperament, powerful, and quick of limb, not to mention they have access to a whole host of tricks which no ordinary human expects to see employed against them in war. One of which Mirri used to get in here, and she's going to use another to help me get out. Hopefully your men will come to get you fairly quickly, but if they don't, well then I give to you the same piss and shit bucket your men gave me.

Oh and as simple military manuever to spread confusion and disorder among my foes, I'm going to be taking your ring of keys with me, hope you have a good blacksmith somewhere in the fortress. Now then Mirri let us depart its time for Ain to see what it looks like when a man sticks to the shadows in broad daylight."

Mirri vanished, or to be more exact she seemed to evaporate into a thick black oozing substance melded itself around Alexander making him a walking sillouet. He opened the door and with impressive stealth for a man of his size began to creep off making sure to close the door so as to avoid someone noticing Ain's plight too early in the game.

Ain for his part was philosophical despite his imprisonment and the scent of Alexander Diamondclaw's urine hovering in his nostrils which reeked of large quantities of mediocre beer among other things. "I wonder, how exactly do you kill a man when his foes have more respect for him then their commander?"

--

The group arrived in Sieka just in time to see that they were almost too late. A large crowd had gathered around the center of the town (which the Prophets quickly integrated themselves into and subtly worked their way forward till they had a good view of the proceedings) that was gathered around half a dozen imperial soldiers and four civilians.

As they got closer it became evident that three of those civilians were still children, two boys and one girl, and one of the boys had a knife to his throat. "Emperor Barbarossa was willing to be more than generous when it came to your payment Mathiu, but if you insist on being an intractable fool, then you will suffer the consequences. These are trying times and one way or another you will return to service in the army."

That fourth civilian who was a full grown man who had not yet begun to show the signs of old age, but was clearly something in the neighbourhood of a dozen years Odessa senior. He had was wearing a yellow coat with brown fringe and a red shirt on underneath it. His hair was reddish brown with red highlights, and his eyes were the exact same color as Odessa. He was also evidently just as determined.

"Captain you are wasting your time. During the War of Succession I saw everything I ever wanted to witness of warfare. I am content to live out the rest of my life peacefully in this small village doing what simple good I can as a doctor." The man with the knife to the young boys throat was not impressed. "Fate cares not what you would be content to do Mathiu Silverberg, are you a patriot or not?" Mathiu spat in the dirt.

"If being a patriot means that I must put my mind to the task of leaving battlefields filled with the dead and dieing instead of doing what little I can to ease men's pain, then apparently I am not one." The knife quivered slightly in the man's hand as if he would guiltlessly slit the child's throat, or was considering using it on Mathiu. "Then if you are not to be motivated by the plight of the Scarlet Moon Empire, what do you say to the plight of your student Mathiu? Will threatening to kill him properly motivate you?

If that doesn't work then perhaps the rest of your village? We were given permission to do whatever is necessary to bring you back with us. Or to put it in terms you might understand 'doctor', an ounce of prevention will be worth a pound of cure. In this case, for every ounce of your body that refuses to come with us, we will turn a pound of these people's flesh into little more then cured ham."

Alexander nodded to James who was only being held back by Mirri's grip on his collar. "All right then, let's be good guys." Masamune was free of its sheath in an instant. and with one well place thrust went directly through the skull of the solider in command.

The child showing a considerably good grasp of the situation at once dropped to ground, laying flat so as to decrease the chances of being hit by a stray blow. Of course in reality he need not have bothered, the other five soldiers died in quick succession: one from a knife to the back of the head one to a bullet to the same location, one from a flail that bashed his helmet and his head in, another to a vicious claw stroke that took his head clean of, and the final one to a simple minuscule wooden arrow fired at close to point blank range.

It took the crowd a few moments to accept and understand what had just happened, but once they did they were less than pleased. "How dare you!" "Now the Emperor will wipe us off he map for sure!" "Who do you think you are to bring such misfortune upon us?" Mathiu however silenced the mob with a glare and one sentence addressed to them, and one the Prophets.

"These people are my guests, I was expecting them. Now then, would you kindly join me back at my humble estate?" The young boy quickly brushed the dirt off of his clothing and ran to Mathiu's side, and by jogging he managed to keep up with his full grown teacher all the way back to his home.

--

"Tea?" The look on Alexander's face said that he was less than impressed by the offer, so Mathiu simply poured himself a cup, and then spoke while waiting for his drink to cool. "I'm sure you people would prefer something, how shall I say it, alcoholic in nature. Sadly I am only a human being and thus the more I drink the less I think, and as a Silverberg my mind is my livelihood.

I can no more allow myself to endanger it then a farmer could allow his animals to come to harm. So I drink tea and do not keep alcohol anywhere in my home, so that even if I felt a strong desire for a it, say in a situation like this one, there is no way I can give into that base temptation. So tell me, why have you come here?"

Alexander wordlessly dropped Odessa's earing on the table. Mathiu blew once on his cup and then took a very long drink from it, as if hoping to find the mind numbing solace he knew was not in it. "So my one and only sister is dead." Alexander nodded and Mathiu took another long drink before speaking again. "I told her that she would come to an early and an unpleasant end being so energetic, especially in a cause as dangerous as armed rebellion against Emperor Barbarossa.

The say that the soon to be dead disserve a dieing wish, but sadly my sister's will go ungranted. I have no intention of seeing the kinds of things I did during the War of Succession all over again, of knowing I was responsible for them again. A battle won after all is the second most depressing sight known to man."

Alexander finished Mathiu's quotation. "The saddest sight is a battle lost." Mathiu took a third sip which was even longer then the firs two. "My sister was female, thus not taught nearly as much in the way of tactics and the history of the Silverberg family as I was. Since our very beginning, our greatest nemesis and our greatest ally has been a 'man' named Alexander Diamondclaw.

When members of the Silverberg family have opposed him, time after time we have gone down in ignominious defeat. When we have supported him, we have achieved great things. Great things like the changing of borders, the rise and fall of dynasties, but the price has always been the same, fields full of the dead and dieing.

Fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, who came back to their families limping with only one leg, walking with only one arm, or in some cases, no arms at all, and of course those of whom who never came at all. I have seen the nature of war, and find it not to my liking, that is why I became a doctor. As a strategist even when I succeed I can do nothing but fall asleep every night thinking of those who died because of my actions. As a doctor, even when I fail I can sleep peacefully knowing that I strived to do something noble, for there can be no cause more noble then saving human life."

Alexander however was not man who was likely to simply accept a kind word and a "thank you for coming" in place of whatever he wanted. "Let's talk about amputations Mathiu. They're grisly to look at, horrifically painful from what I hear, and even when the person survives then they are permanently maimed for life. But, I think you will agree with me that its better of a man to hobble home on one leg, then to never come home at all.

Amputations save lives. You can live at this quite village, or move to some other one, but wherever there are roads, wherever there are beaten paths that soldiers in armor can march across, the Emperor will send men after you. Maybe you will be successful in hiding from them, but it will not change the fact that the Scarlet Moon Empire has a deep festering wound in it.

Those of us intelligent to realize it have been left with only two options.. We can ignore it, hopping it goes away on its own, though we know the far more likely outcome is that this wound will kill it. Or we can behave like surgeons who have spent our time learning how to preserve life, and we can amputate.

It will be violent, it will be bloody, the patient we are operating on may even kill us in a fit of blind rage as we attempt to help him. But if we are skilful, intelligent, and work together to help each other, I hold the patient down and you do the cutting, do you know what will happen? We can cut out this festering, diseased flesh, and the Scarlet Moon Empire will live for a great deal longer, even if there are some superficial changes." Mathiu took that fourth drink and emptied the cup.

"You are a horrendously dangerous man Alexander Diamondclaw, not because of your skill with a blade, a large enough mob of angry peasants can kill even the most excellent of swordsman. You are dangerous in part because as I have heard you are a damnably good tactician. But mainly, you are a dangerous man because you have a way with words.

A man who has a way with words, can insure that whatever his situation he will be able to convince or coerce allies to his cause. You have a way with swords, a way with tactics, and a way with words. I saw it during the War of Succession, the outlandish promises you whispered in my uncle Leon's ear, and then you kept them. Every day of my life since that war ended and you left the Scarlet Moon Empire I have thanked the spirits of my ancestors that I was not one of the Silverbergs chosen to serve either with you or against you.

Because I held the view then, and still do in fact that you were something too powerful for 'human' to describe you, too clever for 'monster' to fit, and too trustworthy for 'demon', to be appropriate. When you came for my uncle it was tales of glory and the success he could achieve working with you. Needless to say, you knew that I would not be taken by such, so instead you present onto me this task of war mongering as my necessary duty as a doctor to the health of my nation.

That makes four things you have away with, you apparently also have a way with people, you assessed my weaknesses and strengths just like I was a fortress, located my weak point, and then attacked it without mercy of any kind. Leaving me with no choice in this case but to run up the white flag. This nation is sick and needs to be operated on, and if ever there was a man who could hold an entire nation by the throat it is you.

Would you care to raise an empty glass with me in a toast Emperor Barbarossa's luck? For against a man like you he will need all that he can get and more." Alexander responded to his question with one non sequitur word. "Wolf." "What?" Alexander held up three fingers. "The word your looking for, too powerful for a human, too clever for a monster, too trustworthy for a deamon, a wolf."

Mathiu slowly refilled his cup with tea nodding as he digested this new knowledge. "Ahh yes, that would explain the way that I feel. I am a shepherd and you are a wolf arguing with me on the subject of how one of my flock is diseased and it would be best for me to let you eat it so that the disease does not infect my other sheep.

While you are perfectly correct, it does not in the slightest alter the fact that you are a wolf, and I am a shepherd." "The word 'shepherd' taken in the original Sindar means 'one who leads' if I'm not mistaken. Which means of course that every alpha wolf is also a shepherd. It is simply that you and I are simply shepherding different 'flocks' though both of us care deeply about the survival of those who depend on us."

Mathiu pondered that for a while and then shrugged. "That would be that way with words I already mentioned before hand, though from what my family tells me, you might have simply been around back when the Sindar reached the peak of their civilization, even then looking for wars you could get involved in for one reason or another." "I'm not that old."

Mathiu just shrugged his shoulders looking not so much at as through a wall of his house. "Never mind, the more time we spend here talking the more destructive this grand amputation will be even if we succeed. Of course we must operate in as sterile an environment as we can locate and I think I know just the place. A couple, make that many, since it happened even before the War of Succession, years ago the empire decided a fort in the middle of Lake Toran was strategically worthless and abandoned it.

Its position on an island means that it isn't good for much but possibly policing a pirates who operate in shallow waters, and there aren't many of those left then or today. However, the fort's position makes it all but impenetrable, it would make a fine base of operation for us to gather strength against the Empire.

Of course also its widely believed that ever since humans abandoned the fort and the islands its been overrun with monsters. But I'm sure a petty thing like that will be no difficulty to you six. I need to make arrangements to make sure to bring all my proper 'operating tools' with me and make sure that the Emperor's wrath will be directed at me rather then this village, not mention make sure my pupils are taken care of. I may need about a week to get everything in order, with a weeks head start you should have no trouble cleaning out the island before I arrive and we plan our next move."

Alexander tapped his fingers on the table. "From what I just heard 'we' had absolutely nothing to do with planning our first move." Mathiu refilled his cup with a hand completely devoid of shakiness. "From what I've heard one of Alexander Diamondclaw's greatest strengths is that he understands at times even a private might be inspired by a flash of brilliance and if a plan has merit he will follow it regardless of its source."

Alexander nodded as Mathiu drank his tea. "Of course. I just simply wanted to establish that taking control of this castle was your idea was soley your idea so that credit and if for some reason this proves to be an idea so foolish that even me and my mine can not succeed at it, blame is also properly distributed."

Mathiu nodded slowly, and finished swallowing before he spoke. "Very well then, perhaps a more appropriate toast might be to the abandoned castle, may we meet there again in seven days." That Alexander was willing to toast to, raising a clenched fist to meet Mathiu's cup of tea.


	7. Chapter 7

FN: Before I start thanks to Reiko x 3 for her review of chapter 6, and don't wory there will be plenty of Mathiu in this story.

Book one: For want of a rune.

Chapter seven: Impressing allies.

Getting to the castle that would become their new base required a boat. And getting a boat was difficult since the Emperor had ordered that all boats were suppose to stay docked and no one was willing to break the law in a time when people were being left to die by the most protracted form of dehydration imaginable. Most of the time the Prophets of Destruction laughed at challenges that other people described as 'difficult' and went on to do them without even breaking a sweat.

This time they cursed at the problem, and a few beads of sweat migrated from brow to floor, but they accomplished it all the same. As James was adjusting the ships rigging his conscience got the better of him. "That wasn't a very nice thing to do Alex, that last throw was clearly a piss even if you did roll three sixes." Alexander was behind the ships wheel and shrugged. "It was a piss all right James, I was getting pissed off at the way I was pissing money down the drain with those two chiselers just so that they would give us a ride on their boat instead of being willing to take a lump sum like good reasonable, bribable people."

Alexander's last throw of that dice in that run down inn's basement was probably well on its way to becoming the stuff of Chinciron legend. After losing several rounds, and seeing his opponent roll a pair snake eyes and a five thus presenting him with the prospect of another three futile throws of the dice, Alexander's mood (never very good to begin with) had headed downwards like the temperature during a blizzard.

He had promptly picked up the dice, rattled them once, and then not so much roll or throw, as simply hurl them. They hit the bottom of the bowl and not so much bounced as richoched out like shrapnel from an explosion. They slammed into the face of Alexander's opponent and were reduced to a cloud of dust in the process. The gambler collapsed on the cold floor leaving Alexander starring down at him, and quite clearly seeing the three small weights inside the dice, not to mention another trio of dice that until he lost the ability to form cognitive thoughts, had been craftily concealing in his sleave.

Alexander had looked at them for a moment, and then he had made his decision about how to handle the situation. He quite calmly picked up the Chinciron bowl, and slammed it down hard over the head of the gambler's partner. Then he proceeded to calmly ask someone in the room to point him toward the gamblers' ship since he'd hate to simultaneously inconvenience someone innocent and let cheaters prosper by commandeering the wrong vessel.

Several people had pointed out the right ship and they had lifted anchor before its rightful owners could wake up and rouse themselves to anger over Alexander's refusal to play their crooked game. So all in all, despite James' butterflies over the exact way in which they'd come to posses their current mode of transportation, they were making good time towards their goal. "We're gonna give this thing back, right?" Alexander shot not James, but Cal a look from behind the wheel.

One of Cal's many jobs as Beta Male was that whenever the Alpha Wolf wanted to rest and didn't even feel like opening his eyes and jaws to nip at the flanks of the Omega Wolf who wanted to play, the Beta was wolf was suppose to come dashing up and chase the Omega off. This could be done either with the usual mock animosity of a pair of carnivores who had no intention of eating each other, or with the very real animosity of a Beta who had wanted to get some sleep of his own but sadly being a Beta, had to put the Alpha's needs before his own.

In either case, there were times that Cal acting a conversational shield between Alexander and James who was just as undisputedly the Omega as Alexander was the Alpha. Cal rose to the task this time with his usual magnificent blend of grouchiness, practicality, and sarcasm. "Of course we're going to give the boat back to them. Once we get the castle the first thing we'll do is sail this thing right back and after we do that we'll have magically developed the ability to swim out to the castle without a boat."

James' face fell and his ears drooped. "Sorry, it just.. well you know it's never right to take stuff from the civvies, even if they were trying to cheat us. I mean isn't trying to cheat the soldiers a long standing civvy tradition?" Cal of course put more effort into ducking the boon with the sudden shift of wind then answering James' question though he eventually got around to both. "Of course it is James, as I'm sure Devi would be glad to tell you its called contract negotiation.

But we're mercenaries not hoars, just because they're willing to pay us doesn't mean we have to lay there and take it while they fuck us over. Besides, it makes boss look good if he projects an aura that he can't be snookered in gambling because it will naturally make people believe that he can't be fooled in combat either. So we keep the fact that he ended up hurling the dice like that only because otherwise he would have burst a blood vessel to ourselves.

We'll give this boat back approximately around the time that we no longer need it and those two are men ask for it back." The Alpha opened a single eye and let a long toung roll out adding to the conversation. "And they appologize for trying to play me like a fool." Of course if the Alpha Female was not always afforded the same amount of respect as her counterpart, she certainty could take some liberties with her mate that none of the others would dare as Florence threw a few words of her own into the conversation. "And worse yet, succeeding at it."

--

When Mathiu arrived at the castle there were no obvious corpses laying around, but the air still smelled slightly of bloodshed and the water near the castle had seemed to have the slightest tint of purple to its coloring and several fishes hanging around nearer the surface then normal. The ships owners quickly threw out the traditional plank for him to walk across to solid ground.

Just because Mathiu was a Silverberg, prosperous and in possession of influential family ties did not mean that people had to like helping him break the law, it just meant that they in fact did have to help him. He had been able to see Alexander waiting for him well before the ship docked, though he refrained from offering Mathiu any sort of help when it came to disembarking. Mathiu for his part refrained from needing any sort of help, after all be they a general, corporal, or anything in between a person's ability to influence their troops was tied to their bearing.

Thus every Silverberg learned from an early age how to be sure footed regardless of situation, they could walk across a standard length plank onto or off a ship without ever allowing themselves to stick their hands out to the side as less coordinated men did, they could walk across an iced over river and never once slip, or worse yet put their weight down in such a way as to break through the ice, and they could even ride a horse off of a ship across a pair of ordinary planks laid side by side without difficulty.

Odessa had gotten similar lessons to those Mathiu had, though they focused less on horse riding and more on being able to do such things in the delicate shoes that proper laddies wore which tended to give very bad traction. "I take it since your still standing none of the monsters still are?" The moment Mathiu took his foot off the plank it was pulled back and the ship that had brought him headed back out to open waters. Alexander shook his head as he cast his eyes towards the towering castle that for all abandonment still seemed to be in pretty good shape structurally. "We've swept this place clean except for one, we saved it to send a message."

Mathiu's eyebrows twitched slightly. "To my understanding the traditional 'kill one to put fear in the hearts of the others' technique doesn't exactly work on monsters, and isn't the one you kill to send the message suppose to be the first to die rather then the last?" Alexander held out his hands and a moment and from the shadow he cast upon one of the castle's rocky walls emerged Mirri Catwarrior. "We're not sending a message to the monsters, we're sending one to you.

If we're going to be working together it makes sense for you to have a certain hands on understanding of what me and my men can accomplish. The one monster we have left 'alive' is a zombie dragon." Mathiu gulped audibly, zombified humans were on the whole more powerful than ordinary humans through a combination of sheer refusal to simply lay down and die and greater strength.

So therefore a zombie dragon zombie be stronger than a normal dragon, and who would want to pick a fight with a dragon? Alexander Diamondclaw and his Prophets of Destruction apparently. "Mirri is going to be the one who takes care of the dragon which we've got corralled in one of the upper levels of the castle, and to make sure there's a good show for her to give you, James..."

James Firecat scampered out of one of the castle's door a floor above them, and then jumped down. "Firecat present neck to Catwarrior, and if I have to give you any further instructions then... I can't seem to come up with a threat of appropriate magnitude to rival the sheer level idiocy the need for further instructions would require."

James stood there as straight as a tree and Mathiu couldn't help but notice that Mirri sank her fangs into a pair of small pink circles of flesh on the back of James' throat that were surrounded by fur, as if those two spot found themselves repeatedly being punctured. Mirri nursed contentedly for a while but then finally broke the contact and licked up a couple more stray drops of blood on her throat. "Ahh that's the stuff, 100 pure male virgin blood, never diluted by laying in congress with a living partner. Stuff makes me practically dizzy with power."

True enough, it was an odd sight but given her extremely pale skin it was fairly easy to see Mirri's own neck veins pumping vigorously with the blood she had just acquired. James on the other hand seemed to be dizzy with something other than power, though he remained on his feet offered Mirri a quick wink. "Hey you know what they say, once you've had feline it's the taste for which you're always ready to recline. Speaking of recline, I'm gonna go line down for a bit, kay Alex?" Alexander dismiss James with another quick hand motion. The nay-kobold scampered off back into the castle and Alexander followed him at first, though while James headed for a side door, Alexander went for the stairs upwards.

"Oh and Mathiu you may feel free to observe Mirri's actions at a reasonably close distance without any sort of fear for your person. Though Mirri will be doing the actual fighting, I won't be farther than Masamune's length from your side to insure if the dragon for some reason takes into its extraordinarily small and rotten brain to attack you instead of her I will stand ready to defend you."

Mathiu didn't doubt that, only very foolish commanders squandered precious resources like the services of a Silverberg, and it was equally clear that Alexander was anything but very foolish. But then even if Alexander Diamondclaw was the greatest general to ever lead men into he battle, but he was still constrained by such necessities as being in only one place at any one time. That was why he had so many run ins with the Silverberg family, he was a mercenary after all and rarely had the kind of hands on knowledge a particular territory that a Silverberg living there would have.

All that said, Mathiu, still wished that Alexander could have found a better measuring stick then the length of his sword. "And of course needless to say if she should require it you will be there to assist your subordinate and I had best make for the rooms exit which I hope will be standing equally close to." Mirri rather then Alexander was leading the way upstairs, which allowed Alexander to easily fix a glare at the back of her head. "If after drinking James' blood she still needs my help... well I would only need to be a hair bit more vicious a man then I actually am to feel that she should disserve to be left to bare the results of her own monumental failures since this task should be well within her skill.

But after all her faithful, intelligent, and creative, years of service, I suppose anyone disserves a second chance if they have a colossally incompetent day. The Prophets of Destruction have a simple motto on such issues, if you don't protect yourself before you worry about protecting others then very soon you'll need protection of your own.

Even James is quite capable of grasping the point. We look after each other on the battlefield, but none of us should expect the others to need or be free to give help. Self reliance is the most essential of essentials." At which point Mirri threw in what sounded like one of countless colourful ways of shortening an important lesson down to a terse witticism. "There's no 'we' in 'killed' only 'I' and 'killed' is a two way word."

Sure enough Mathiu had grasped the simple fact by their actions at his village, that none of the Prophets of Destruction were to be taken lightly. Yes they had posed the advantage of attacking enemies from behind, and enemies who were not expecting to be attacked which was quite a hefty advantage in fact. But the warning lay not in what they had done, but how they had done it, they had butchered enemy soldiers like it was an ordinary part of the day: wake up, eat breakfast, and kill a couple people before lunch.

Most soldiers except the very brutish or the very experienced shy away from killing enemy soldiers in anything other then pitched combat when it was kill or be killed. It was bad tactics of course, if you killed an enemy soldier by slitting his throat while he sleeped, poisoning his drink, or shot him with an arrow while he was relieving himself, he was just as dead as if you met in a grand melee and if you did in cold blood he would have no chance to hurt you.

But as Mathiu had learned at an early age, frequently all that was considered "right" and "good" lay directly at odds with what was expedient militarily. So the true challenge lay in being both a decent tactician on the battlefield, and a good person off of it. Mathiu had hopped to take the most obvious approach to that quandary, there had to be two opposing sides for a battle occur, if he refused to be a tactician and was only a doctor then he could be as pleasant a person as he cared to be.

Alexander seemed to take a the exact opposite approach. He had no intention to ever 'leave' the battlefield. Of course to avoid turning into a monster Alexander granted enemy and neutral (and in some horrific cases friendly) civilians and noncombatants considerably more privileges then 'proper' tactics and conventional practice said they should have.

Granted this was arguably a reasonable mindset for a revolutionary, since revolutions were even more vicious and muddled affairs then regular wars. The difference might be compared that between a proper duel and a bar fight. In a regular war there were clearly defined boundaries, two armies would line up at some place, select weapons and then fight one another, usually to the pain. Of the army at least, for those individual soldiers involved such battles quite frequently proved lethal.

A bar room brawl had no rules beside that it was good manners (if such a phrase was appropriate for the situation) to keep the fight inside the boundaries of the building. Any weapon, any tactics, any target, any manuever was acceptable, friend and foe could change with painful celerity. The War of Succession had been somewhat like that, and Mathiu had been plenty old enough for a Silverberg to understand most of what of how it had unfolded.

But that had at its heart been more of a civil war than a revolution, if Barbarossa had died then his uncle would have been able to lay a quite convincing claim to the throne of the Scarlet Moon Empire. What would Alexander say if someone asked him what right he had to be trying to dethrone Barbarossa and thus by default take control of the Scarlet Moon Empire? Looking at the tall man, Mathiu had no trouble at all imaging his answer. "I wanted to."

This was not an affair between two different branches of the same noble family, but between the noble family who wanted to keep things the way they were, and peasants with a spurned mercenary general to lead them in rebellion. Also in the War of Succession, Alexander had been leashed by Emperor Barbarossa a leash he hadn't terribly resented. But with Odessa's death, the leash that Barbarossa had passed to her, had snapped. No, perhaps it was best to simply extend the leash metaphor, there was still a leash around Alexander's neck, but it was in the hands of a dead woman, and Alexander could probably drag her corpse along with him wherever he wanted.

It would most likely be interesting, and a certainly frightening to see how a war commanded by Alexander would turn out, what targets he would want to attack, how he would want to attack them, and of course the orders he gave in the field where a man did not have the luxury of time to fully think through his decisions. Mathiu suddenly found his way barred by Alexander's hands, and he mentally reprimanded himself for getting so caught up in his thoughts that he might every forget the situation at hand.

The zombie dragon was at least as big as most full grown dragons that Mathiu had seen as a tactician (though he had not studied the great beasts at any true length) the best description for its size might be simply "big enough" for that it was. Big enough to comfortably fit a mans upper body if not the entire man insides its jaws in one clean bite.

But apparently Mirri didn't think it was big enough to frighten her. She walked forward an faced the dragon her fingernails lengthening into claws that burst free from her gloves. "Okay you lizard lips, let's dance." The dragon opened its mouth and let lose with a mouth full of blue flame at its minuscule challenger. Mirri dashed across the floor, flames licking at her footsteps but never catching up to her. When she came to a wall she proceeded to simply run straight up it as if it was a perfectly flat field.

In fact she made the transition from running up a wall to running across the ceiling without problem either. She ran behind the dragon's head and it finally closed its mouth. Mirri braced against the ceiling and jumped downwards. The zombie dragon skittered about trying to bring its head to bare against Mirri but it didn't' make it in time.

Mirri landed on it's neck digging her claws into her foes neck. With a quick twist of her arms, she pried lose several of the dragons scales, causing sprays of a black substance to erupt from them. Mirri suddenly vaulted over the dragon's head to avoid those sprays as if considerably more then the cleanness of her garments was at stake. Of course considering the way some of the rocks that the black substance hit began to bubble ominously perhaps there was.

Alexander saw the look on Mathiu's face and nodded. "Zombie dragon 'blood' is highly acidic in nature. Vampires don't go near it if they have a choice." Of course while Alexander might have just been following Mathiu's eyes, there was always the open possibility that Alexander was simply telepathic and could read the thoughts of those around him. It was a theory that would always hold a certain amount of credence up until the point that it could be disproven beyond a doubt.

The dragon didn't go after Mirri with its breath, instead this time it went after her with its fangs. Of course Mirri was still with all the speed of darkness, and she had no trouble at all avoiding the dragon's attacks. Eventually the dragon found itself on the ground snapping up at Mirri who was once again standing on the ceiling. So the dragon began to flap its swings and rose up towards the ceiling , and it was clear that Mirri didn't approve of this turn of events.

"Oh no you don't. I was embraced and granted the rank of No Life Queen by Sierra Mikain, the greatest vampire still undead, nobody beats me in the air!" Mirri dropped from the ceiling and spread a pair of shadowy wings that allowed her to fly as gracefully as any bird, and she soon grabbed hold of the dragon's lower right leg. She tore a few more scales from it before letting go.

Mirri plummeted towards the ground but stuck out her hands, and stopped falling just a few precious inches short of her hands touching the stone floor. Then she flipped around and looked up at the dragon who was just now realizing that she was no longer above it. "Nope, I'm down here now" The dragon turned and let lose with another blast of blue flame.

Mirri however easily flew upwards darting to the left and right to doge blasts of flame before she finally wrapped her hands around the dragon's tail. "You may weigh a lot, but only when your on the ground!"

Mirri rose a few more feet into the air hands still holding onto the dragon's tail, flipped herself around once again so she could plant her feet firmly on the ceiling, thus giving her plenty of traction. She began to spin around quickly, keeping a tight grip on the dragon's tail, making it spin about as well. Once she had not only the dragon's tail, but the entire dragon rotating upon her whims as well, Mirri let go.

The dragon went flying a considerably different manner that most people would have though of when they heard the expression of "a dragon in flight." That image was of a beautiful creature soaring majestically through the sky. This was a dragon flying headlong into for about three seconds, before smashing itself into a disgusting mass of pulp that looked like, well a disgusting mass of pulp.

Mirri flipped around again a third time and dropped to the floor, at which point she saluted Alexander, her shadow wings vanishing to wherever they had come from. "Mission accomplished Sir, the target has been eliminated." Alexander nodded to her throwing in a small sideways motion to it afterwards. "Excellently done Mirri, dismissed, feel free to go keep James company.

Mathiu I take it this demonstration of our fighting capabilities should prove a useful measuring stick for future plans you concoct?" Mathiu nodded slowly unable to take his eyes off of what was left of the dragon. "Yes it should be."

--

The two tacticians met the next morning to discuss plans. "If you oppose Emperor Barbarossa on your own then you will only be at best pin pricks against his empire, and far more likely fugitives who need to spend all their time to remain one step ahead of his watchdogs."

Alexander cupped his hands together as he listened to Mathiu's words. "Forgive me if I don't fall on my knees and worship the intelligence of your statements. I've seen more then enough failed and successful revolutions to know the simple ground rules.

You need a core of determined people, but you need an army as well." Though Alexander's words were all but dripping with sarcasm, they were also barbless, designed to pierce and then come out cleanly. It was the masterful teacher that could tell his pupil he was wrong without discouraging him and Mathiu was just as sure he was both currently Alexander's pupil and far from discouraged.

"Very well then, since Odessa never told you much about the Libration Army, we subsequently have no idea how much of it still remains, or where it is. Therefore, rather than trying to round up the previous members of what used to be, we might as well start fresh.

With things the way they currently are, the Emperor betraying even his old friends, it shouldn't be too hard to locate those who are dissatisfied with him. I suggest that one man in particular might be of great use to us, if we could sway him to our cause. Not only he is a local magistrate, but he is a man of noticeable skill with a blade."

While Mathiu's last string of words had produced a down turned curve in Alexander's lips, this one was sending his lips upward. "If he's also a man of reason then I think we'll get along swimmingly. What is his name, and how might I convince him to our cause?"

Mathiu wrung his hands nervously before answering. "His name is Lepant. At the moment the Emperor has committed no great slight against him, but hasn't done much to win his gratitude either. He owes me a favor or two, so mentioning my name and that I sent you should be enough.

That said, a Silverberg must try to plan for things not to go as planned whenever possible. Lepant has two great loves. His wife Eileen is one and his sword Kirinji is the other. I'd suggest against permanently harming either, but temporarily obtaining, or somehow convincing the imperials to put one in danger, may be quite a useful tactic."

"Thank kind of information we can make considerable use of, especially knowing that he owes you some kind of debt. If you're any good with a fishing pole you shouldn't have too much trouble surviving out here on your own till we get back, so we will be on our way to see Lepant as soon as possible."

--

"Well so much for the direct approach." It was not a frequent occurrence that the Prophets of Destruction were held back by the everyday bores of bureaucracy. However the grey haired servant's excuse had been air tight and easy to double check. Lepant was not in town, he was expected back sometime tomorrow or so, but he was apparently going to be quite busy doing business that was too important to just let anyone know exactly what it was, and once he got back he would be much too busy to meet with anyone.

Alexander picked up on James words and nodded sagely. "Yes, but when the direct approach fails, all that means is the time has come to think a little bit more cleverly. When Lepant gets back there are two distinct ways that we might get his attention. One of them is we can break into his mansion tonight and steal his sword. Well even be polite enough to leave him a note telling him that we stole it, and where he can come to find us if he wants it back.

Then when he gets back, he'll have to come and face us if he wants to lay his hands upon it again. The other is once he gets back we break into his mansion and talk to him that way. Of course if we break in after he gets back, then we'd seem unduly violent and uncivilized.

So instead tonight we'll be sneaking into his house and making sure that his sword is gone by the time he and his wife get back. Though personally I wish that he'd taken his sword with him wherever he went and left his wife behind, then I wouldn't feel like I was taking a bath in excrement."

An accusatory eyebrow belonging to one Florence Bastien rose as high as it would go. "So your saying that you'd put down hard money that Lepant cares more about his sword then his wife?" Alexander strove bravely onward where other men would have turned tail and run for their lives. "I'm not saying he does, I'm just saying that's there's a distinct possibility.

A wife with only a few exceptions, is who a man comes home to, but his sword is what he counts on to keep him alive so that he can in fact get home. That's why a great many men have special bonds to their blades that their wives cold never possibly understand."

Florence's right eyebrow sank, but her left one rose to take its place. "You just don't care if you ever have sex again for the rest of this century do you Alexander? Well at the very least it'll will give you plenty of time for you to 'bond' with your 'blade' at night."

Alexander's face assumed the unusual (at least for him) expression of a cowed man, well a mostly cowed man. "Hey, hate the sender not the messenger. We go to Gregermister or any other good sized city and I can find for you at least one man who beats his wife. Feel free to tell me when you've found a man who beats his own sword out of shape just for the hell of it, because it'll be the first I've ever layed eyes on or even heard about." And with that Alexander stood up and walked out of the room.

--

Lepant was a man in his early thirties with a mane of orange hair and a large mustache. Said mustache was bristling to the point that I was only a hair away from jumping off of his face. "How dare you!" Alexander sat alone at a table with Kirinji's resting openly across his knees. "Hello to you to Mister Lekamp."

Lekamp however was not interested in formalities at the moment. "Do you have any ideas, what I had to shell out to that Trickster Jupon in order to get his mechanical contrivances to guard my home while I was away? You turned them into scrap metal!"

Alexander shrugged, Masamune was strapped to his shoulders every bit as visible to the naked eye as the sword he'd stolen. "Those metal soldiers tried to kill me, so I did the exact same thing to them that I would have done to them if they were soldiers made of flesh." Lepant's fury was far from spent. "YOU CARVED UP THE FLOOR OF MY HOUSE!"

Alexander shrugged again and leaned back, placing his feet on the table elevating Kirinji to being just outside of Lepant's reach. "If you didn't want me to destroy your floorboards you shouldn't have installed such a horrifically pointless device. Honestly, I saw no logical way that even the swords rightful owner could have accessed it easily, so you should be thanking me for eradicating that wheel."

Lepant's rage was such that if he was so much as one iota angrier smoke would probably start shooting out his ears. "You vagabond, you bandit, you cut purse, you ruffian! Give me back what is mine!" Alexander picked up Kirinji and exhaled a very deep breath. "You know, this is exactly why I wanted to seperate you from your wife instead of from your sword. Lepant, my name is Alexander Diamondclaw, Mathiu Silverberg told me to come to you for help me dethrone Emperor Barbarossa." Lepant's face did not soften.

"Sir, if you had dared to lay one claw upon my wife we would not be having this conversation, I would have already tried to undue you with every ounce of strength present in my body." Alexander only smiled at Lepant's rage. "I suppose I'll have to apologize to Florence, your apparently one of the exceptions. Now then, I want your services, you want your sword back, surly we can come to some kind of agreement. Of course if we can't..."

Alexander drew a few inches of Masamune free from its sheath so Lepant could see the way it sparkled as light struck it. "Now your Kirinji is a fine, boarding upon exceptional sword, but my Masamune is better. If you refuse my offer, then Masamune's blade will cleave Kirinji's in half."

Lepant was having none of it. "Never, there is not one single thing you could do to make me take up arms alongside you. If it means I must make due with only my wife and not my sword, so be it." He turned his back on Alexander but at that moment, Lepant's assistant ran into the room.

"Master, the Emperor's men have taken your wife! I tried to stop them but..." Lepant spun around to cast a fresh glare in Alexander's direction. "Did you play some part in this debased plot? Pulling me from my wife's side so that others could whisk her away against her will?"

A black gloved hand grabbed hold of Kirinji's hilt and a head was shaken. "My plan was to steal your sword, I wanted to steal your wife but since she was out of town I couldn't.

I might have destroyed your blade if you walked out that door but my primary plan was to keep it close by me in case you changed your mind. However if you were willing to forsake your wife rather then fight the Emperor, then clearly you would not have been the man Mathiu thought you were.

You want some proof of my intentions? I know I'm weakening my own hand, but I think this strengthens your's considerably." Alexander tossed Kirinji to Lepant who caught his broadsword gently and Alexander grinned at the look o his face. "Ahh yes, that's what I wanted to see, let's go get your wife."

Lepant nodded as he took the time to inspect his blade. "Indeed, Kirinji is not just any finally crafted sword. See the markings in the hilt? A rune granting great power to anyone who wields her resides within." Alexander whistled, though he had of course noticed the rune, very few runes of any type had ever escaped his notice. "Most impressive, but I have much more than a fancy sword as you and those who took your wife will soon discover."

--

There were two guards outside the imperial commander's residence. They went down both went down due to a few well practiced strokes from Masamune. Lepant whistled in surprise. "If ever there was a man who was said to both fight with all the exuberances of youth and wisdom of age, it is doubtlessly you."

Of course that said, Lepant at once charged through the unlocked door that the two soldiers had been guarding. "Let the snivelling swine who runs this place come forward so that he can face my wrath for daring to lay a hand upon my wife!"

Of course the two imperial soldiers inside the door did not seem so pleased with this announcement. "Cool it pops or else..." No one ever found what "else" the solider might have been. These soldiers unlike the ones outside, were not wearing armor even if they did have sheathed swords.

Before one of them could draw his blade, Lepant gave him a full body check sending the younger man to the floor. The other solider went for his blade but Lepant was ready and, with one mighty swing Kirinji knocked its nameless foe free from his opponent's hand. Lepant then held his sword to the man's neck. "I suggest you and your partner never, ever, get in my way again, or else you will find yourself losing more than your blade."

The man didn't nod, because it would have lead to him slitting his own throat, so instead he simply whimpered until Lepant lowered his blade and then ran from the building. "Let us seek out the dastardly scoundrel who is behind this!"

--

Alexander wondered if he shouldn't have been more surprised to find out who was running this base. No wait, kidnapping the wife of a man who was extremely attracted to her, and was known for his skill with a blade, that spoke of incredible lack of morals, and incredible idiocy.

No, he was actually surprised at how surprised he was at finding Commander Kraze holding a knife to Eileen's throat. "Alexander Diamondclaw! Your actions caused me to be shuffled off to the side command in the middle of nowhere, now not content to just interfere with my career now you stand in the way of my pleasures!"

That mustache bristling anger was in full swing throughout Lepant's body, but then seeing another man hold his wife at knife point could do that to a person. "If you harm one hair on my wife's head..." Kraze smiled as he staired down Lepant. "You'll do what? I want both of you to drop your swords, now, if you don't else I'll cut this beauty's throat!" Kirinji and Masamune both thudded to the floor though Kraze kept his knife at Eileen's throat.

"Thank you for being so prompt, seize them!" A half a dozen soldiers burst into the room and at once a pair of men got to work restraining both Alexander and Lepant, with two more just standing around holding their weapons drawn but doing nothing else. Kraze cackled at the sight before him. "Hah! How do you like that? See, even you the great General Alexander Diamondclaw are helpless when a woman's life is put in danger, chivalry, what idiots it makes of men!"

Though Lepant's face was crestfallen, Alexander's smirk (an expression considerably more common for him then a true smile) did not wane in the slightest. "If I thought it was necessary for Masamune to remain in my hands it would have been a race between your blade and mine, and I would most likely have won. But as it is, there is no need for me to put this woman's life in any sort of peril. You see Commander Kraze, you are standing with your back to a second story window. Think about what that means for the last moment of your life."

--

"This is way too easy. He's so into gloating that he's lowered the knife." Cal looked down the length of Phoenix, and a over hundred yards away at the window. "You sure they don't know we're here?"

Cal did not take his eyes off the target. "James don't distract me now, if I miss things are going to go badly and Boss isn't going to accept 'Firecat distracted me' as an excuse. So remember, we're on a grassy knoll that's not even part of the city. More to the point, most people around here don't even know what a gun looks like, so keep your ears down and mouth shut up." Cal adjusted his aim again, and smiled as a familiar mantra with his own personal twist flowed comforting from the gunman's lips.. "Ours is a howl that shatters the wind itself, bitch."

--

Commander Kraze stopped in mid cackle and fell forward, a large hole suddenly opening up in his skull. A man shot through the front of the head will have only a small circular hole about the size of a thumb to show for it on his face. But when a man is shot through the back of his head, the transformation that his face undergoes as the bullet leaves his body is the stuff of nightmares for the young, old, and those in between. Kraze's soldiers and Lepant looked on in surprise, but Alexander had been expecting it.

He easily slipped free from the guard's slackened grips, slipped a foot under Masamune and kicked it up from the floor into his waiting hands. The long blade came free from its sheath and with an expert thrust slew one of the guard holding Lepant before its holder used another quick kick, to send Kirinji in Lepant's directions.

Lepant used his free hand to catch it cut down out at the other surprised guard holding him. More guards began to storm the room, and Alexander quickly hurled Masamune's sheath in Eileen's direction, since her hands were empty.

"THE WINDOW!" Lepant hurled Kirinji's sheath to his wife as the two raced towards her. Alexander grabbed Lepant's wife with one hand and Lepant placed his free hand on her as well, then three jumped went out the window. Alexander lead the way, his body bearing the main brunt of the breaking glass.

After their abrupt exit they fell no more then five feet before landing in a tree located directly behind the window they had shattered. Lepant staired at the foliage surrounding him in amazement. "I don't believe it, I've seen this building from many different directions countless times, but never before laid eyes on this tree!" Another guard armed with a crossbow leaned out the window to try to find a target, but the trees leaves got in the way.

Not that he would have had time to take the shot even if his targets had been without any sort of protection, no sooner did he lean out the window then such actions were proven to be a fatal mistake. A second bullet went through the front of his face just as cleanly as the one that had gone through the back of Kraze's. Lepant's mouth fell slack. "Sweet merciful... I've heard stories of the Howling Voice Guild of Harmonia, but to fire two shoots that close together, it would require two seperate gunmen. The money to gain the service of one guild member is extravagant, two would require a king's ransom."

Alexander shook his head at Lepant as he looked up from planning how to get to the ground. "It only takes one marksman if he can reload quickly. Of course it doesn't hurt if he's got a magical way with bullets. Now then, am I mistaken if I say that the imperial 'base' in these parts holds no more then around two dozen men?" Lepant nodded along with Alexander's assessment, and the silver haired man continuned.

"Well then, I've already killed three, my gunman another one, two if you count Kraze as fighting solider, and you've another unfit for combat, that makes five or six. So that leaves nineteen or so of them left. Call it ten each, do you think to insure that the there is no one left to tell the Emperor what has happened here, you can kill ten men?" Lepant growled as Eileen handed him Kirinji's sheath. "I think I might manage that, assuming they did not all come at me at once.

However if you and I go down there, who will be left to look after my wife?" Alexander gestured calmly toward as a pair of green gloved hands that had subtly snatched Masamune's sheath from Eileen's unresisting hands, and passed it back to its rightful owner. "That would be my female companion, Florence Bastien. She's of a milder temper then me most of the time but when riled even I do not wish to cross her." Lepant's eyes slanted in a knowing way as he looked at Florence. "I know the feeling."

Florence nodded back to Lepant, and then smiled at Eileen as she steadied herself on a branch even as she held one of her arms out towards the window. "Don't worry mam, Cal's still watching the window so we can stay up here and be perfectly safe while our boys go out and play with half a score of men each." "Oh please, I heard what Kraze said, and those men sure as hell weren't about to stop him, I want as many of them as I can get my fangs on."

Lepant looked down and found Mirri "standing" below him her feet braced against the underside of the same branch he was sitting on. To his credit by this point his eyebrows didn't even budge, he returned his attention to the man with all the answers. "So who is this?" Alexander began to brace himself for jumping out of the tree. "This is Mirri Catwarrior. You know the saying about a woman scorned? Well Mirri isn't so much a woman scorned, as a combination of every woman ever scorned.

Every time she sees a woman taken advantage of by men, she tends to become a being of pure rage and malice even more then as a vampire she's normally a creature of blood and shadow. Apparently it's going to be six for all three of us." Now then, why don't we get to work?" Alexander pushed himself out of the tree and dropped to the ground. Mirri likewise "let go" of her "grip" and fell downwards, spinning around to land on her feet. Lepant uttered a few quick words to Eileen as he prepared to leave as well.

"Stay safe a while longer dear, I must go make sure of it in the long term." Then he dropped to the ground. There he slowly adjusted Kirinji's sheath so that it was clipped to his belt. Alexander preformed more or less the same act, attaching Masamune's sheath to the strap he still wore across his back. Lepant looked at his sheath, then at Kirinji, and then at Alexander. "You said you would have rather taken my wife than my sword, what would you have done with her?"

Alexander shrugged helplessly as he approached the door into the base once again. "I'd have chained or tied her up in a room with Florence, Devi, or Mirri looking after her, well maybe not Mirri. There are as many female members of the Prophets of destruction as male. We are all devoted to one another, so any impropriety I attempted would have had serious consequences. Mirri tell Lepant what you did to the last man you caught who'd just done what Kraze was doubtlessly planning to do if he'd had enough time alone with Eileen?"

Mirri hissed the words her voice low and for the most part emotionless except for and undercurrent of rage beneath the words. "I ripped off all his reproductive organs, and proceeded to shove them down his throat. He never quite managed to swallow them properly so he ended up choking, not that they were so big, more likely it was the fact that I had a hand around his neck at the time."

Lepant paled slightly, after all every single man felt a communal bond to every other man based around said reproductive organs, and choking to death on his own bits was doubtlessly one of the most gruesome deaths imaginable. "Ahh, well with that in mind I don't suppose I can suspect you of any wrong doing of that nature. No woman, ever born, even one already dead could so callously lie about such actions."

--

Lepant walked out of the building, and closed the door behind him, and only then finally sheathed Kirinji. "It's been a very long time since I've done anything like that." Alexander sheathed Masamune in almost perfect timing with when Lepant's own blade went into it's leather cover. "If it's any comfort, the less time between such actions the easier it gets."

Lepant's nodded slowly as if in a daze. "Of course, just like wadding into and out of frosty water, once you've been there for a while, you don't realize how cold it is till you try to leave." Lepant blinked and then turned to Eileen who with some help from Florence had gotten out of the tree. "Eileen, by the powers vested in me as magistrate, we are no longer married." "WHAT?"

Lepant gazed at her sadly. "I just helped kill an entire imperial command post. Sooner or later the Empire will send more men here, and sooner or later, everyone will agree that I did it. When that time comes I had best be some place as far from the mansion as possible and you no longer be of any relation to me." Alexander coughed interjecting into the lovers conversation.

"If you're trying to find some place safe, we are currently in possession of a castle on Lake Toran, and it should be proof against any but the most well thought out of assaults.

Eileen turned away from Lepant to face Alexander. "This castle... are its occupants cramped for space?" Alexander shrugged. "There's no lack of space. Food, other types of supplies, fresh water, those still we are but a hair away from having a veritable dirth of, but space, space we've got plenty of. We have in fact, vast mind numbing amounts empty space at the castle."

Eileen stood up proud and tall glaring back at her husband. "You worry about my safety Lepant? Don't leave me here with hope that the Emperor won't extract his vengeance on me, take me with you. It's your job as my husband to protect me is it? And according to Alexander it sounds like his fortress needs some women to take care of making sure that there's something that you can eat between battles."

For a response to that, Lepant pulled his wife into a dramatic kiss and Alexander, Florence, and Mirri had the good decency to look away, after all it wasn't like the Emperor was going to be finding out about what was going on any time soon. Mirri of course did not have the decency to stay silent. "Yeah, yeah, he still loves you, I would have known it at the room full of dead bodies..."

FN: Impress can mean "to have an emotional or cognitive impact upon" the definition your probably more familiar with, but it can also mean to force or coerce someone into service. See what a great double meaning joke the title is?


	8. Chapter 8

Ronin Trip

Book one: For want of a Rune

FN: Before I get started thanks to thegr8sephiroth for his review.

Chapter eight: Outlaws and inlaws.

"I've come to kill you Alexander Diamondclaw." Alexander looked a the man dressed in black who was suddenly obscuring his view from one of the castle's many balconies. Things had gone so very well up to this point, they had even met up with Varkas and Sydonia on the way back to the castle and the two were interested in signing up to work with the Silver Wolf Army.

But then this idiot had to show up. "I hope you got paid in advance, and gave the money to your family and friends, because your body is going to sink beneath the waves, at the very best." Masamune left its sheath and the man faced him with discernible weapon of any type in sight. "If you aren't a coward who depends upon your magic blade to defeat all who oppose you, face me with your bare hands as I challenge you."

Alexander looked at the man and laughed as Masamune clattered against the ground. "Oh you just did something very stupid. First off. Masamune isn't magical in the slightest, it's just very, very sharp. Of course I suppose the sheer degree of sharpness it possesses might seem magical to the unenlightened. Secondly, prepare to learn why my body itself is one of the most feared weapons in all of Suikoden."

--

Mathiu had been about to go to bed when he heard the noise. Against his better judgment he decided to see what it was, it sounded extremely feral and was coming from a nearby balcony, making Mathiu wonder if it wasn't some winged monster arriving at the castle not having realized that it was once again home to humans. He made sure to only take a quick glance around the corner to look into the balcony, that way if it was a monster, he could be off as fast as his legs would take him in the direction of the nearest room belonging to a Prophet of Destruction.

What he saw wasn't exactly a monster, it was a wolf. But it was no ordinary wolf, it had bright silver fur that was quite distinguishable even in the flickering torchlight. It also happened larger then any other wolf Mathiu had ever seen, had ever heard of, larger than any wolf had a right to be. Mathiu had only a quick glance before he closed his eyes and jumped away, not bothering to try and gain a true sense of the things size, only knowing that it was large.

The wolf's claws had been covered with blood and its jaws even more so, since they had been in the process of tearing a human body to shreds. Mathiu did not run, he just stood there, collected his thoughts and then waited.

Eventually Alexander Diamondclaw walked back into the castle through the balcony, not one single thread on his outfit disturbed, not one single hair on his head out of place, and Mathiu was mostly ready for him. "During the War of Succession, all of the prominent generals acquired nicknames, not that this was n act unique to the War of Succession of course. Teo McDohl was known as the 'Stone General' since he was known for being unshakeable in battle as well as in person.

General Oppenhimer was known as the 'Flower General' because of his preference for decorating his clothing with flowers, among other things. And then there was you, Alexander Diamondclaw. All of the Scarlet Moon Empire knew you as the 'Silver Wolf' a nickname that must have seemed appropriate since few of us considered you a true general. To be a tactician is to be a solver of problems, and even though I had retired from the battlefield, a single question plagued me during much of my free time, how exactly had you come to be known by that title?

The silver part was obviously a reference to your hair, but what had you done to earn you the title of 'wolf' I wondered. Was it because how like a pack of wolves you allowed men and women to fight side by side? Was it the habit of you and your men had of passing through forests, swamps, and other terrain that would have stymied even Teo's armored Calvary at a truly breathtaking pace?

To make matters worse, this question was tied in with another more private problem, how could Alexander Diamondclaw exist? How could one man have met with so many members of the Silverberg family and bested all of those who had dared to oppose him? I'd thought I'd found a satisfactory response for that one, that in reality 'Alexander Diamondclaw' was not one man but several.

A family of tacticians like the Silverbergs constantly on the move, and using special magic the likes of which I know exists to insure their children were born with certain characteristics, so that as the father grew old and his silver hair turned to grey the son might assume the mantle of 'Alexander Diamondclaw' and leave all of Suikoden none the wiser.

But that theory was rather painfully blown out of the water when I saw you again less then a month ago, because you are the same man who my uncle Leon talked with during the War of Succession, and too many years have passed since it for you to not have aged noticeably. Luckily my uncle once told me just what I needed to know to answer that question, 'never fool yourself into believing there is a truly complicated answer when a simple one will do' and indeed I now see all my questions regarding you have one simple answer.

There exist twenty seven True Runes in this world, jewels of unimaginable power that were rained down onto the face of Suikoden when the world was newly formed. Anyone who possessed one of these runes would have everything any solider could ask for, strength, speed, and endurance, far beyond anything what human beings are able to sometimes even comprehend, let alone duplicate.

Even better, the Rune would make them the next best thing to immortal, so long as the right hand into which the True Rune had been melded remained attached to their body, any wound they suffered would close with remarkable speed. Only a clean killing blow, stabbing them through the heart, cutting off the head, slicing their body more or less in half, or severing the right hand, though that last one would not kill them just make them vulnerable as any other man and never able to wield a True Rune again, only those four things could surly undo them.

ONLY those four things. The most venomous poison would not stop the beating of their hearts, let them be pierced with countless arrows, stabbed with countless daggers, and their bodies tossed into ditches, they would not die, but recover and have not the smallest scar to show for their injuries. Even time, the slow killer that wears away mighty mountains to dust, will leave them unmarked, for after they reach the very peak of their physical skill, they simply stop ageing.

Stop. Men and women who stay the same year after year as if they were paintings instead of people. As if those blessings were not enough, each True Rune grants a particular and spectacular power. Such fantastically tales seem sometimes hard to believe, even when we readily accept the importance of ordinary runes.

It is said that there is one rune for each of the five elemental forces, fire, lightening, earth, air, and water, and to have them grants far more power then ordinary rune of course. Where an ordinary fire rune could let one turn a forest to cinders, or burn a man to ashes, the True Fire Rune would let a man create a flame so large and bright it would seem a second sun.

It is said that the imperial family posses a True Rune, but that they do not actively handle it frequently, and thus go to their graves having lived no longer than your average ruler. Knowing all that, there is a third small question worthy of consideration. Why is that no one, not one single person, can ever claim to have seen Alexander Diamondclaw, or any of his men remove their gloves, even when eating in the presence of the Emperor?

Are they so paranoid that they expect to need to be wearing their gloves so as to properly handle their weapons at any moment even in such conditions? Or are they merely committing an act of deception? The answer to all the question is simplicity itself if you consider all the questions together. Alexander Diamondclaw, possesses, a True Rune."

"Very good Mathiu, I would have been disappointed if you hadn't figured it out after seeing me in my transformed state." Alexander removed his right glove, and Mathiu feasted his eyes upon the shape of a large shining yellow moon that glistened on the back of Alexander's right hand. "This is the Okami Rune, it remembers when the sound of wolves howling at night would drive terror up and down the spines of every single thinking being in the world, and among other things it wants me to remind them." "The others?" The black glove was returned to its traditional resting place. "Naturally. I can hardly allow myself to be held back by a limp member of my pack, even the omega must be able to more or less keep up with his alpha's pace.

Mathiu nodded he had been expecting that of course. "Very well then. Now I feel that the fate of Emperor Barbarossa is truly sealed. I am a tactician not a seer, I do not know the exact nature of how it will happen, but Barbarossa will fall. What a foolish man he has become, there is no treasure on the face of Suikoden worth claiming if it means making enemies of the Prophets of Destruction.

Even if it was one of the twenty seven True Runes, while you might gain one, you would make enemies of six people wielding runes of equal power with years of experience using them." Alexander looked deeply into Mathiu's eyes as he spoke. "I completely agree with you, and that is why I am so sure Barbarossa is no longer in his right mind.

Now then, sadly I've got to be going, I've earned too many grey marks in Florence's' book recently to earn a few more wasting the night talking to you, fascinating as it is to watch the blooming of tactical maturity in a human who will be lucky beyond his comprehension if he manages to actually live for a full century." And with that, Alexander departed.

--

James was fishing when he first saw the elf. He was just barely managing to stay afloat and winning a few more inches toward the castle with every dozen or so strokes he took. The nay-kobold instantly yanked his line out of the water, tossed it aside, then with the practiced ease of one who had been wearing his footgear for his very long time, he kicked his shoes off of his feet.

These important tasks dealt with, James jumped head first into the water. Unlike the elf, James wasn't tired to the very core of his being, and in no time at all he had managed to grab the elf, and proceeded to treed water as he carried the more or less unconscious interloper with him back to the docks.

The elf's chest was still heaving up and down so James decided he was probably in good enough shape to survive being carried to the nearest bed and after that he went about the process of altering the others.

--

Kirkis' eyes fluttered open, and he was surprised to find that he was on a more or less solid bed instead of still trying to cross that unforgiving stretch of water that he had been so sure was going to claim his life just as he came within sight of his goal.

However such was not to be case luckily, since evidently he very much alive. "Trying to swim out here, that had to have taken solid brass balls, of course it would have also required a brain of similar composition since it almost got you killed. But elves aren't in the habit of throwing their lives away needlessly so for the moment I'll assume you had a good reason to do what you did, and as fair warning, I hate to be proven wrong."

Kirkis focused his eyes on the man who was speaking. Tall, silver hair, black outfit, but before he even opened his eyes, his ears had told him everything he needed to know. This was Alexander Diamondclaw, the man who let time burry the elves who annoyed him while he had the audacity to endure.

"My name is Kirkis. The elves need your help. The Imperial General Kwanda Rosman is planning to destroy not only all of us, but our forest as well, and he has some kind of weapon that will allow him to achieve his diabolical aim. We need the help of the Rebellion, Liberation, Silver Wolf, whatever the name of your army is." Alexander crossed his arms and sighed. "That army is more of a saying then an actual being."

Kirkis' heart sank. "However, the Prophets of Destruction are as always a highly mobile force capable of striking just about anywhere with considerable speed and strength. Since I am rather impressed by that stunt you pulled and thus you have my ear, at least by proxy. Make your case to Cal and Devi, and in turn I'll decided what to do depending upon what they tell me."

Alexander walked out and two more people walked in. One male, one female, so it was not great challenge to guess which was "Cal" and which was "Devi" though a another feature stood out far more firmly then their respective genders, Devi was an elf. He was so uplifted by this fact that he sat up in his bed. But Devi evidently felt he was getting ahead of himself.

"I wasn't born anywhere near here, so don't think your going to sell me on it just because we're both elves." Kirkis drew in a deep breath before he spoke. "If nothing is done, then our entire forest will be burnt to the ground, and all of us may die." Cal impatiently spun his only mostly wooden weapon as he responded.

"Freaking pointy ears, do you know why you want the six of us? Because you live for so long that you think that anything wrong with the world will blow over on its own. So you sat around writing poetry while we human outbred, out thought, and out fought you. You want us to do this for you because we're humans so we can go out an do things.

Yeah we just might help you, but you and your elves are going to have to help us in return, and since you're probably not going to want to actually fight even then, I suggest you have a considerable number of chests filled with gold ready for us." Devi snapped her flail and her partner fell silent.

"Cal we're running a revolution here not a protection racket, Alexander doesn't allow progroms of any type to take place under his nose. Besides, if the Emperor tried to wipe out the elves, we protect them then they're going to flock to our banner, or if they don't I'll drag them to it."

Cal went back to spinning his weapon and sighed. "Hmm, you know that might make for a pretty decent slogan we should consider asking Alexander to spread it around, 'The Silver Wolf Army, NOT a protection racket on the side." Devi's flail lashed once again and then she approached Kirkis. "If this is a wild goose chase, you best tell us now."

Kirkis shook his head. "It is deadly serious, I'll be glad to lead you to the village as quickly as possible!" He tried to get up, but Devi pushed him back into bed. "You passed out, even if you never stopped breathing you still swallowed a lot of water. Unless you want us carrying you all the way to this village, you need some rest, beside we need some time to get things in order."

--

Alexander was waiting for Cal and Devi when they walked out the room that had been given to their new elfin visitor. "How did it go?" Cal blew an imaginary wisp of smoke off of his finger. "How do you think it went? Good Knight, Bad Knight, is your own creation after all Alexander. Next to giving him to Mirri, there's no better way to get the truth out of someone and he seemed pretty dam sure that something serious was going down..." A quick curt nod. "All right then, we'll just have to go and find out what the hell is going on."

--

Soon enough things were gotten in order. Mathiu, Lekamp and Eileen were left in charge of gathering resources so that the castle could support a large force once they acquired one to support, weather the supplies took the shape of magically frozen meat, fish, reasonably unperishable dried fruits, to whatever the hell else they could get their hands on. Then they set off following Kirkis' instructions which was how they arrived at the current direction.

Sitting in an elfin jail cell. Cal rapped his hand against the thing wooden bars in anger. "Devi, nothing personally but please somebody back me up here on how your people are complete and utter jerks."

The occupant of the cell who had nothing to do with the Prophets of Destruction purposely looked away from Cal. "Your wasting your time. That stuff is elfin ironwood. You couldn't dent it with a battering ram, let alone your bare hands." She had curly light brown hair, deep brown eyes and was dressed in the uniform of an imperial soldier. Alexander glared down at her. "And who exactly are you by the way?"

The woman stood up as straight as she could. "My name is Valeria. I used to work for imperial general Kwanda Rosman, but lately... he recently acquired plans to a dwarven weapon, the Burning Mirror, if he uses it then he could burn not just this forest, and the elves, but also the village where I was born right off the map. I couldn't allow that to happen. I'll assume your part of the Liberation army?

I'd say strange times make strange bedfellows but there does not appear to be even one bed or cot in here, let alone eight." "I'm Alexander Diamondclaw, and statements such as yours are exactly why I believe my Silver Wolf Army can prove victorious, people, soldiers in particular putting more value on their places they were raised then on the Scarlet Moon Empire as a whole."

Valeria's eyes went wide and then sunk to the floor. "I see why Kwanda told us that you could disarm an opponent with your tongue as easily as with a blade. Yes, with the way villages, towns, and cities were passed back and forth between him and his uncle during the War of Succession, we placed more faith in our family and friends then we did in either of the would be emperors.

Sadly I like so many soldiers learned such habits too late to shake them as easily as most of youth's foolish notions. Both of my parents are still alive, and it was said that the Burning Mirror would give people a death more horrific then any encountered on the battlefield. I can not allow anyone, even the Emperor himself to use a weapon that might force such a fate upon those who gave me life.

Worse, it is claimed that the Burning Mirror's most horrific trait is that once employed it is like a maddened horse, no human hand can change its course. Thus even if Kwanda does not intend to destroy my village, it may be eradicated all the same." Alexander nodded along with her words. "Speaking a mercenary who currently detests from the bottom of his heart so very many things about his homeland, far be it for me to look down on another for allowing themselves to place some allegiance before that to their king and country.

However, if you were willing to betray General Rosman by warning these elves, if someone could insure the destruction of the Burning Mirror and the safety of your parents, would you place your second greatest allegiance in that person?" Valera's eyes widened again but she met that golden yellow eyed gaze. "You believe that you could do such a thing? To even have a chance you'd have to find a way to escape this place." Alexander gestured at Masamune that was hanging from a wall on the other side of their current prison. "I do so very appreciate the presence of that blade upon my back, if I thought this cell any great obstacle to me, I would not have allowed myself to be peacefully placed with it.

As for the 'Burning Mirror' if it is a dwarven weapon, then I can be quite complicated. Complicated things have a way of ceasing to function when I stick Masamune into them as a magistrate learned not very long ago. At the very least we need only infiltrate Kwanda's fortress or wherever he is creating this weapon, deal with it, and then preferably also either take with us or destroy the set of plans that Kwanda obtained for it. Of course if he has half a brain he will have made copies of said plans, but perhaps enough searching will reveal them, or the copies on their own may not be good enough to accurately recreate the weapon.

If nothing else, we force him to start construction upon it all over again. Of course considering dwarfs made it, we should probably ask them for help for how to 'unmake' it before we proceed with any foolish schemes of our own." Cal after being rebuffed by the imperial female had turned is irritation at the current situation upon the elf who had gotten them in this problem.

"Kirkis, you ran away from your village in the middle of a fight to come and get us?" The blond haired elf cowered under Cal's rage. "It seemed that Kwanda's men would scatter us from the village with their might and I thought that as you pointed out before, since humans had outfought us elves, we would need the help of humans to outfight other humans!"

Cal looked like he was about to strike some portion of the elf's body with the but of his rifle when Devi interceded helping Kirkis to his feat. "Cal you should know better then to go around making race relationships worse by hitting an elf just for letting his fear get the best of him." Of course no sooner were the words out of her mouth then Devi casually slapped the elf with enough force behind the blow to rattle if not knock lose his teeth.

"And you must have been dropped on your head at least a dozen times before you possessed that many years of age to leave your village without permission, without orders, without EVEN TELLING ANYONE WHY, in the middle of a fight! I don't care how badly Kwanda's men outnumbered you, or the fact that your people apparently managed to drive them off on their own, what you did was stupid as the day is long.

Worse, you had to bring us into it, and because your actions were so insipid and you managed to recruit us you made us look as foolish as you are before we could even open our mouths." Kirkis dropped to his knees and covered his face with his hands. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, all right? At least you have your humans, the elder who ordered you to be thrown into this cell and looked at you like you were a bug, is not the ruler of your village, and the grandfather or the elf you wished to court! Even we can get out of this cell I have no place left to run to..."

Cal looked away from the elf and buried his face in his hands as well out of frustration rather then fear however. "Great he's in love. And not the reasonable kind of love either it has to be the flighty fairytale crap where flowers blossom and birds sing, and possibly land, and yet never shit on the girl he cares about every time she walks by. No wonder he's been acting like there's nothing but open air between his pointy ears. Devi you should have warned me about this."

Devi looked up from Kirkis to face Cal. "How exactly was I suppose to know?" Cal motioned with the but of his gun toward a certain portion of the elf's clothing. "Simple, I thought I'd told you this before, Mother Nature in one of her few absolutely wonderful ideas, gave men erections for the same reason that she make skunks raise their tails straight up before you spray.

If you can see something poking against the fabric of a man's pants, that is what he's thinking with and everyone else should be wise enough to keep their distance." Devi in turn motioned towards Kirkis' lose elfin garment in general. "Unlike your pants Cal the stuff elves wear doesn't make it blindly obvious when they're having a good time. Did you want me to reach in there, feel how firm it was while we were questioning him? Because it also might have made a good time to compare sizes."

Cal just scoffed mightily and turned his back on Devi lovingly patting the section of his brown pants above the knee cap. "Its stuff like that makes me wonder why elves think that they're such hot stuff. I mean pants, they keep wind from blowing up your ass on a cold day, they let a girl see you care about her, they help you run like hell with said girl over her shoulder when her father comes after you with a crossbow, or in some rare occasion when your making an empty handed get away from what the girl is carrying and in those cases the farther probably wants to kill you enough that he sometimes will forgo the crossbow. Pants, they beat the hell out of tunics!"

Devi slapped him once he finished speaking, but it was a reasonably friendly slap. "Thank you for that delightful look into human customs. Though I would not be surprised to learn that humans developed a garment just to aid them in escaping from the punishments that they should rightfully disserve. I suppose you would lay a similar claim of the superiority of the leather boot over any kind of elfin footwear?"

Cal smiled evidently quite enchanted with his races own repugnance. "Faster then you could blink your eyes, good solid leather boots are just the thing you need if your going to be hiding up in the mountains to avoid the ire of an entire village or particularly wide spread family and don't want to leave them a trail of blood to follow from where a rock gashed you."

It was at that point that a female elf with deep pink verging on purple hair and eyes of the same color came down the stairs from the room above. She had played no part in locking the seven in the cell, but a most discomforting sight greeted her. Mirri (the collection of bars of any material had not yet been invented that could hold a vampire, she had simply turned into shadows, passed and resumed her mostly human shape on the other side of them) was in the process of handing James back all of his knives two at a time.

In a surprising move she quickly thrust her right hand before her own mouth so as to muffle the quickly forth coming half scream half squeal of equal parts surprise and terror. As she worked on getting herself under control Mirri walked past her, grabbed another pair of daggers and brought them back to James paying no attention to the female elf at all. "Vampires, nay-kobolds, and humans, Kirkis look at what you've brought to the village."

Kirkis moved from the back of the cell to the front of it, pushing James aside so he could look through the bars at the female elf. "Sylvina... how can you judge the content of your character, just by their face?" Sylvina looked torn between two different emotions but finally made her decision. "The vampire drinks blood for a living, as for the humans and nay-kobold, they live for only fifty years a most before they die, how can they achieve any wisdom such as is worthy of our years?"

Kirkis turned his attention back to into the cell though he continuned speaking. "Most humans may live for only fifty years, but don't consider that, consider that this is Alexander Diamondclaw, the human who outlives elves! Please Alexander, I need your help to convince Sylvina..." Alexander gave a stiff formal nod to his imperial conversation partner and then walked over so that Sylvina could take a vissual measure of him. She shivered slightly, most elves tended to be tall and thin, but Alexander was taller. "Is it true that you outlive elves?"

Alexander crossed his arms looking down his nose t Sylvina. "How old are you?" "One hundred and fifty years next spring." "Alexander scoffed at three times the average human lifespan. "I'm older." Sylvina looked at him closely for the slightest flicker indicating a lie, but Alexander was either a master of deception or telling the truth, though of course both also happened to be a valid possibility. "How old are you?"

Her voice quavered as she asked the question, as if she was afraid of the answer. But then she had good reason to be. Elves respected age even more than humans did, for one could acquire the wisdom of age without its ravages. Alexander motioned with a finger for Sylvina to lean close which she did at once and he in turn playfully pushed Kirkis aside so that even with elfin hearing he would not comprehend the words he whispered ever so softly into Sylvina's ears making her jump backwards in shock. "WHAT?"

Alexander just nodded, his eyes in possession of a playful look in them more often found in James. "Oh yes." Sylvina practically panted as she strived to digest the fact. "But that would make you older then the elder!" Alexander just shrugged. "You want proof? Pick a couple of events from years that far back, and if I was present I can describe then in details so intimate that I was obviously present. Most of my companions are of a similar age, give or take a century.

Granted it shames me to say that Mr Callan Wright is still a wet behind the ears greenhorn who's only a touch over seventy, that said he's also a stubborn bastard who isn't about to drop dead any time soon." Cal was still in the back of the cell and glanced up impudently at Alexander. "Low blow there Boss, you think I need to be reminded that I'm less then half James' age? By the way, if that doesn't prove that the age doesn't always bring wisdom and maturity what could?" James who had been now doubly displaced from his spot before the bars glowered at Cal. "Hey, I resemble that remark Harmonian!"

Sylvina sighed looked a the ground and then back at Alexander. "I'm sorry, I suppose if a human can live as long as you he should be granted the same respect for an elf, and the very fact you came here at Kirkis' request says you mean to help up. I'd let you out of the cell but the Elder took the key with him and he has lead most of the warriors out of the village a few minuets ago to take care of searching the forest for any humans still hanging around." Alexander just smiled warmly and pointed at Masamune. "Look at that sword."

She did, and she nearly jumped through the ceiling a few moments later when a black gloved hand came down on her shoulder. She turned around and saw that Alexander indeed had placed the limb on he, the bars of the cell having bent themselves aside creating a gap wide enough for him to step through. "How did you do that, they're made of ironwood!" The silver haired man walked over and retrieved Masamune before answering.

"Florence has a way with plants, when she says 'open sesame' it doesn't matter if caraway, ironwood, or anything in between, it opens. Now then, if the rest of you wouldn't mind leaving the cell, we have some dwarfs to be visiting, if one of our three new companions could point us in the right direction I'd appreciate it." Valeria raised her hand. "I can handle that."

Alexander just nodded back to her again before returning his attention to Sydonia. "You said most of the warriors are out of the village. We should be able to exit without drawing to much unwanted attention then. I suggest you get out two, go to the edge of the forest away from the imperial forces, that way if this Burning Mirror is deployed hopefully you'll be able to avoid its effects. That is if you don't want to come with us. Valeria you can go warn your parents once we depart." Sylvina dipped her head slightly.

"I don't think I have the courage to join you unlike Kirkis. So may different races in one place, how can you get along?" Alexander shrugged off her question. "When people are united be a common goal, it doesn't matter if they aren't the same race, they can achieve anything they set their minds to, even if they lack a common tongue and must communicate in pantomime. Now then..."

It was not exactly pantomime in which Alexander gave the orders for moving out, but rather a more evolved form of it, though at the end of the day he managed to get most of his desires across to his fellow Prophets without needing to speak.

Before she left the room Mirri placed a strong hand on the female elf's shoulders in the exact same spot Alexander's had gone. "Yes I drink blood. But I'm a mercenary. That means I kill people for money. Do you think in my line of work I ever particularly want for blood to drink? Accuse my profession if you want, but don't ever tell me I'm a bad person because I'm a vampire." And with that she left as well.

--

The dwarfs were proving to be only slightly better hosts then the elves. It was pretty clear they weren't about to be slammed in a jail cell, but they weren't going to be much help either. "You expect me to believe firstly that pathetic humans could steal the necessary blueprints from out vault, and then secondly they could actually build the thing without our help? Ho ho, I laugh at the very notion!"

Fortunately before Alexander had to get into a long drawn out argument someone else was willing to do it. Cal stepped forward and laid Phoenix on the table. "You sure about that? What's say we make have a contest see if humans lack the necessary mechanical aptitude, or only the desire to spend on all their time working on machines? If I beat you then you'll believe that the imperials have the Burning Mirror and help us undue it. If you win then we'll leave you alone."

The dwarven chief chortled again. "I should expect no better from a human then to wage what you want if you win against nothing at all if you lose, however let no one say that I fear a human's skill with machinery. How would this wager work?" Cal unclipped his from its sheath.

"This is Phoenix, a gun, the pinnacle of human machinery. Its uses cases that hold everything I need to fire the bullet, so that I don't have to worry about putting in the powder, then the bullet, then using a ram rod to pound it all in there till it sticks and worrying it might fall out halfway through.

It's breach loading so that I can pop the bullets in without ever having to over extend my arms to an awkward angled. The barrel and the bullets are designed to work together creating an effect knowing as 'riffling' this causes the bullet to spin as it leaves the chamber. This spin causes the bullet to travel farther more accurately, if you ever want proof of that try just hurling and object and throwing it so it spins I suggest an ovaloid object for best results.

All summed up this baby is deadly as all get out. Now then my challenge to you is this, I'll draw up blue prints of Phoenix and all its components for you, you give me a copy of the blue prints for the firespear like the one you gave the Liberation Army, unless they somehow stole them from you the same was the imperials stole the Burning Mirror plans from you, and present me with the materials.

Then the two of us will have one day each to work. We will each be overseen by an examiner of the other group to make sure we don't cheat. At dawn tomorrow I'll try out my firespear and you try out your gun. Let's see who gets better results and that will decide who wins.

Oh, and just to make it extra spicy, neither of us is allowed to test fire our weapon at any time before dawn, we have to be able to get it right the first time, for that is the mark of a true master isn't it? So then, do we have ourselves a contest and a wager upon it?"

The dwarven chief took a moment to examine Phoenix slowly noting all the things Cal had mentioned about it and then nodded. "I sincerely doubt that a device like this was made by humans, far more likely it is the work of some other dwarven clan, let's see how well you handle a firespear!" He turned towards one of the other dwarfs in the room.

"You, bring my private copies of the plans for the firespear, it is time to show this human who is apprentice and who is master!" Cal just shrugged. "I'll be waiting at the inn drawing up the plans for Phoenix you keep the firespear plans and send a messenger for me. I'll come and give you the plans, that will even give you a few more moments to work then I have."

The dwarven chief just smirked up at Cal. "You'll regret that bigjob." Alexander followed Cal closely as he left the room. "Your risking a lot on your skill at artifice Cal." Cal just smiled plainly. "Hey Boss if I fail we can always go and just steal plans for anything that look like they'd be helpful against a Burning Mirror ourselves, if the imperials could do it can't be that hard. Like the dwarf said, we either win or draw, even when we lose, we don't."

End Chapter eight.

FN: You now need no longer just take my word for why the Prophets of Destruction are so badass, there's a perfectly reasonable in universe solution, give a solider hundreds of years of experience and of course they'll be badass. Likewise with Alexander give a general hundreds of years to watch various tactics and technologies in use, and of course he'll seem brilliant and dam near impossible to take by surprise, he's already been through it all at least once.

Of course it's up to you to tell me if this makes the Prophets seem more or less like Mary/Martie Sues.

As for the subject of the Okami Rune not being one of the 27 True Runes well,

In the five Suikoden games we have seen eighteen of the 27 True Runes.

1 True Fire

2 True Water

3 True Lightening  
4 True Earth

5 True Wind

6 Rune of Beginning (Bright Shield, Dark Sword)

7 Rune of Punishment.

8 Rune of Dragons

9 Beast Rune.

10 Gate Rune.

11 Night Rune (Star Dragon Sword)

12 Blue Moon Rune.

13 Circle Rune.

14 Hachifusa Rune (Yuber's)

15 Rune of Change

16 Rune of Life and Death (Soul Eater)

17 Sovereign Rune

18 Sun Rune.

That leaves nine True Runes we know nothing about, therefore I feel perfectly justified in creating a few new True Runes to go with my new characters (and there will be an in fic reason why its called the Okami Rune instead of Wolf Rune), you'll find out more about exactly what True Rune each of the Prophets posses as this fic goes on, and in the following books you'll find out about why their respective Runes chose them.

As for True Runes granting their wearers great strength, speed, endurance, making the holder incredibly hard to kill, well just think about many times you "kill" Yuber in the third game, I'll let that speak for itself. Neclord is much stronger and harder to kill then ordinary vampires, and I'm prett dam sure it's directly atributed to the Blue Moon Rune. Also in the second book Luca Blight will be actively carrying the Beast Rune on him as an explanation for why in one tactical battle upon doing what should force him to withdraw, he proceeds to PWN your entire army.


	9. Chapter 9

FN: Thanks to Reiko x 3 for her review, and I'd love to see your continuned thoughts on the fic, not to mention the opinions of anyone else reading this.

This chapter would have been up sooner, but I've got a job now, and it didn't help that I had to rewrite a couple portions of this chapter for added dramatic effect.

Book one: For want of a Rune

Chapter Nine: Judgments of steel.

Dawn came and there was quite a crowd who looked on waiting to see what would happen to this brash human who thought he might be able to defeat a dwarven chieftain at weapon making. They had even gone so far as to set up some rudimentary targets, chunks of wood stuck into the ground, vaguely human in shape and size.

Cal had finished his firespear with enough time left over to actually get an hour of sleep, at least he'd plan to spend get to sleep, Devi had other ideas. So with heavily lidded eyes Cal stood before the dwarfs, his newest creation filling both of his hands. It was a simple enough looking weapon, a long red tube that was attached to a large container strapped to his shoulders. He waved the tube around threateningly. "Everyone stay the HELL away, as comical as the idea of you running around with your beards on fire is, I don't want to hurt any of you physically.

I do however plan to cause you a certain amount of emotional pain by defeating you at this contest, will probably rub it in your face in it afterwards. JAMES GET BEHIND ME RIGHT THE HELL NOW! This thing has no off switch, and I'm not really going to be able to control where it goes, so give me a 180 degree clear field of fire or else!"

Eventually everyone arranged themselves to Cal's liking though James was leaning over his shoulder to the point that his body was rubbing up against the tank Cal wearing until the Harmonian gave the nay-kobold a quick elbow to the ribs that finally got his point across.

"Sorry about that, but if something goes wrong, I'll be the first to admit that I may, explode rather violently." Mirri pulled James back to a safe distance, she had a considerable distaste for fire and wanted neither her nor her main source of blood anywhere near a weapon that would produce it in large quantities.

Cal pulled the simple "trigger" and instantly a long blast of flame shot out from the barrel of the firespear for ten of Suikoden's longest seconds, Cal waved the firespear back and forth till the tank was drained and the flames devoid of fuel, finally died away. He held up the firespear's barrel that was discharging about as much smoke as your average chimney and blew a small puff of it away, then began carefully unstrapping the tank and laying the firespear on the ground. Before him stood a great many piles of ash that had once been targets.

"I just used enough oil to keep every lamp in our castle burning for a week, but I'll let those piles of ash speak for themselves. Your turn beard face." One more wooden target was brought out and the dwarf walked out with his gun, which while of course being smaller then Phoenix seemed to be a very good dwarf scale replica of it. He even properly balanced the weapon against his shoulder in a two handed grip preparing for the kick that would come when he fired it. Then he pulled the trigger, the hammer clicked forward, and the gun more or less burst in half, leaving a lot of dwarfs staring in surprise. Cal however just nodded as if this had been the outcome he was expecting.

"Yeah, that's what happens when you don't use just the right amount of gunpowder, or as I'm willing to bet, the gunpowder you used is of higher quality then what I use in my bullets. So instead of just propelling the bullet, the thing actively explodes the entire contraption. Shame because that looked like a mighty fine gun." The dwarven chief looked down at the two broken halves of his weapon. "Where did a human learn such skill as yours?" Cal pointed north as he answered.

"The Tower of Howling Voice Guild in Harmonia. Inside its stone walls there is knowledge that would scare the hair off your head and chin. I suggest you keep the secret of gun making as carefully as possible, because if the Guild finds out about it, they'll wipe you from the face of Suikoden. Not 'try' they will. So I suggest you hide the blueprints I gave you a bit better then those you did for the Burning Mirror."

The dwarf looked at the ground, and a single tear fell into his beard. "Very well then, we had our contest and I am well and truly bested, that was a fine display of the firespears power you put on for us. The Imperials might have the Burning Mirror, but soon we will have the Firewind Cannon. How far is it to where you believe the imperials who stole are plans are using them to construct the Burning Mirror?"

Cal turned to Alexander who gave his estimate and the dwarven chief chortled. "Ha, we will teach him to steal from dwarfs! Built in the middle of the city the Firewind Cannon will turn the Burning Mirror into naught but broken glass with ease at that range. As one engineer to another you have my word." Cal extended a hand and the dwarven chief shook it. "That's as good as gold to me my dear dwarf."

--

They departed after a quick meal and headed back to the elfin village, but apparently the situation was worse then any of them had realized. They hadn't had the day Cal had spent making a firespear to impress the dwarfs to spend, the fact that there was smoke and flames rising from the fire had been evident from the cliffs before they were halfway down. By the time they reached the forest, all that was left was a gutted wreck of what had once been a bright and thriving village.

Kirkis who had been quietly following the Prophets of Destruction kicked at the ash and swore. "Dam it, look at this, after everything I did, everything I risked, everything I endured, LOOKS WHAT IS LEFT! I still lost everything, my homes, my friends, my love..." A small diamond ring fell from his limp hands into the grass. "Well look what we have here." A number of imperial soldiers emerged from behind tree stumps burnt to ash each one in full armor and sword in hand. The man in command smirked underneath his half helmet.

"We were here to take care of any elves who the Burning Mirror didn't handle, but it looks like we've only caught one elf and a great many traitors. Alexander Diamondclaw, do you have any idea how large a bounty they've placed on your head?" Alexander calmly fingered Masamune. "If you are the only ones here to collect and my capture was not foremost in your minds, then I would have to assume one that simply put, isn't large enough."

--

Mathiu Silverberg was getting used to being on the battlefield again. He had been late, but he did not mind being late because it meant he didn't have to see the bodies, instead all he had to see was a large quite noticeable patches of recently overturned ground. "You know, I set out with foolish notions of arriving in the nick of time to rescue Alexander Diamondclaw from imperial forces. In retrospect I realize that there's fundamental wrong with that plan, it required Alexander Diamondclaw to need rescuing."

Alexander stood with a foot planted on the mass grave. "I will be in a sorry state the day I need to be 'rescued' in the conventional sense of the word from a few dozen opponents. However, I understand that thanks to this lady's intervention you managed to bring what currently constitutes the Silver Wolf Army here with all possible haste? For that you have my thanks."

"This lady" was Sylvina, she had disregarded the advice she had been given and openly headed west and run into Mathiu and the Silver Wolf Army at which point she had helped them follow the same secret elfin paths that Kirkis had lead the Prophets of Destruction through, allow them to arrive at their current location much faster then they would have left to their own devices. Mathiu nodded to Alexander, though there was a certain amount of resentment in his voice. "It's still not much of an army, only a collection of bandits, and remnants of the old Liberation army, about 6,000 men and all reports say that Kwanda Rosman has close to ten thousand disciplined soldiers at his command.

That gives him nearly our force and half again, so I am not sure how much good it will do. What do you suggest?" Alexander smiled as he lifted his foot from the grave he had dug. "That we employ a certain amount of strategy. If Kwanda has spread his men out to hunt down the remaining elves then it weakens his hand, also he is doubtlessly relying on his Burning Mirror and that ace in the hole will soon be trumped by one of our own, and he has no way of knowing it.

From the what the dwarfs say, I the weapon will be ready by tomorrow morning so I want us ready to launch our attack by then. If he was a man as smart and sensible as Teo he would hold his men back and make us lay siege to him, but Kwanda Rosman is a horse of a different color.

Flush with his special weapon to fall back on, not to mention his superiority in numbers, I believe I can convince him to attack us, me in particular. Once we've done that, then the fun begins." Mathiu considered all that, scratched his chin, then nodded slowly. "Yes, the very act of attacking elves in their own forest does seem incredibly rash. It was not something Kwanda was known for during the War of Succession, but I suppose some men grow less patience with age. Is there anything in particular we should do to prepare for the attack?"

Alexander turned towards the two elves who's home had been destroyed. "Sylvina if what you told me was true then the elves were probably spread out throughout the entire forest, when the Burning Mirror was used against it. The very fact that Kwanda left men here to try and catch them says that he was afraid that there were elves who the Burning Mirror hadn't slain. If we can find them, then I doubt they would object to the prospect of attacking the man who destroyed their home.

The battlefield is a chancy place, and you never know when an additional thousand, hundred, dozen, or even a single solider will tip he balance one way or the other.

You and I will lay further plans for the battle to come, the others: by which I mean Florence, Devi, Cal, Mirri and James you should also disperse in the forest to look for elves who rally to our cause. The rest of the Silver Wolf Army should rest before battle, trying to recruit elves to our cause they might be too easily mistaken for an imperial soldier with fatal consequences.

Kwanda is one of the five Grand Generals, his downfall will knock a support lose from Barbarossa's already teetering tower of strength, and prove to the people that the Silver Wolf Army is a force to be reckoned with. Maybe that loss will bring Teo down here, and if he is pulled from protecting the Scarlet Moon Empire's northern border, perhaps Jowston might see an opportunity to throw itself into the conflict. After all, common wisdom is that Mayor Anabelle is a woman after your unbeating heart Mirri, if she can manage to get all five of the United City States of Jowston to agree on attack which is of course a task and a half, then she'll use their strength without thinking twice.

It all flows from what happens tomorrow, make sure to gather the men so that I can let them know that before they go to sleep. Men fight better with motivation, and they're at their best when they have time to sleep and contemplate that motivation."

Mathiu turned his back on Alexander, ready to begin the task that had been laid out before him. "They'll be no great trick to that as I believe there is already a word for gathering your soldiers all together in one place before they go to sleep, 'dinner' they call it." Alexander smirked and gave Mathiu a slap on the back. "Already acquiring a cutting tongue I see, good for you doctor, you'll find yourself a proper Silverberg again before the war is out, I'll lay better odds on that then I would Kwanda's chances of victory." Mathiu didn't doubt that in the slightest, after all he had never really stopped being a tactician.

--

"Alexander..." Kwanda Rosman put down the spy glass he was looking through from the roof of his castle. The silver haired man had approached out of the burnt rubble of the woods, all by himself and approached the castle without the slightest bit of hesitation. Standing just about two hundred feet away he held up both hands, index and middle fingers raised, creating a "V" symbol. Then he twisted his wrist around so that Kwanda could see the back of his hands.

The imperial general let out a his of irritation and then messenger he'd summoned (who was looking through his own spy glass) took his eyes off the mercenary general to gaze in surprise at his commander. "What is that?" Kwanda looked away as well for a moment, a most profound scowl upon his face.

"It's an obscure obscene gesture from an ancient war that only the ancient Silver Wolf cares about or remembers. He wants to play with me? Fine! Let's see how he likes it when he feels the full fury of my rage!" Kwanda yanked the large cloth cover off of the Burning Mirror and at once it began projecting a beam of light that could sear a man's flesh straight from his skin. "Burn, Alexander burn!"

--

The giant beam of light that was cutting deep scar arcos the land followed its target's movements like a child following a particularly vigorous ant with a piece of glass. Alexander however was aware of the danger he was in, not to mention quite a bit more dexterous then any ant, and so far had managed to stay a couple steps ahead of the beam of light, for now at least.

--

A considerable distance away from Alexander, Mirri began to shiver. "Giant, beam of light, giant beam of light. James I need you to hold me..." "I'm already holding you Mirri." "Then I need you to do something else to take my mind off the fact that we're looking at a beam of light so intense that the only reason it hasn't started any more fires yet it because it burning that grass to quickly for the flames to spread! I have no idea what exactly, be creative!"

--

Back in the center of the dwarven village a the Firewind Cannon hastily erected was now being wheeled into position by dwarfs. The chief dwarf sat in a chair with his hands on the lever that would fire the thing. It's five more degrees to the left, two more degrees upwards!" The adjustments were made, and the chief dwarf could see the beam of light that the Burning Mirror was creating.

"Time to teach this impudent whelp what happens to humans who steal from dwarfs!" He yanked the lever and unlike his gun, the Firewind Cannon did not explode upon being fired, instead it hurled its projectile forward, with deadly accuracy.

--

Kwanda Rosman heard odd whistling sound in the air, and somehow he knew. He jumped away from the Burning Mirror and lay flat on his back. None too long after he made the jump, the dwarven weapon in the hands of dwarfs destroyed the one in the hands of humans. The shot from the Firewind Cannon reduced the Burning Mirror to a pile of broken glass sending shards flying in every direction imaginable.

Luckily on his back Kwanda could count on his heavy armor to prevent him from coming to any serious harm. As he slowly stood back up he saw the messenger he'd summoned to observe Alexander's approach had several small cuts on his body, but that was not the general's problem. "Damn dwarfs! No matter, open the castle gates and get the men out there, if we have to deal with that cocky bastard the old fashioned way that's just what we'll do!"

--

With the Burning Mirror nothing more than the better part of a decades worth of bad luck, the beam of light that was moving across the landscape with deadly intent vanished every bit as quickly as it had come into being. Soon enough the gates of Kwanda's castle swung open to allow his army to sortie out to deal with the one lone man who had challenged their master.

Alexander beat a hasty retreat back to the woods he had emerged from and sat down next to a stump of a burnt out tree. "Exciting isn't it?" Mathiu Silverberg was sitting behind said burnt out tree and he risked a look at the approaching imperial forces and sighed. "I suppose that's one word you could use to describe our current situation. You've managed to get them out in the open, still are you sure you're not bitting off more than you can chew?"

A toothy grin was that first answer that the doctor turned tactician received. "A great much has been made tactically speaking of the virtues of being the man with the biggest stick, or the most sticks, and I know that I am neither in this situation. What I am however, is the man with the longest stick. Kwanda can flail away all he wants with a tree stump while I stand outside his reach and beat him silly with a quarterstaff.

I have several hundred elfin archers, who are currently hidden from Kwanda's vision,. Between their keen eyesight and expertly crafted longbows, they can hit a human sized target more or less every other time at 300 meters, human archers with their inferior eyesight typically don't try to hit a target that's more than 200 meters away, and that's to try and hit an army rather than individual targets.

If Kwanda tries to have his archers fire back at us then they're going to discover just how long a distance a hundred meters can be when you have to run it while carrying a longbow that's probably taller than they are, while having arrows rain down upon them. Mages will have the exact same unpleasant experience since my archers have orders to fire at the lightest armored targets they can find..."

As Alexander spoke the several hundred very angry elves who Alexander had managed to recruit stood up from behind the sparse cover they'd managed to find amid the burnt out ruins of their trees they let fly with their first volley of arrows.

"So even if he wields a greater weight of ranged combatants than we possess, it hardly matters if he can't commit them to battle without my elves turning them into human pincushions. Which leaves him with only two choices, either admit that his entire army couldn't properly put down a few hundred elves, or he can throw his entire army against us."

Horns and bugles split the air and for a few moments Alexander was silence. "And that Mathiu, would be the sound of Kwanda Rosman ordering several thousand men to come in here, and stab us to death with various pointy metal objects. I don't know about you, but it gives me a warm feeling in the cockles of my heart to know that someone hates me just that much."

The two stayed silent as they watched the imperial soldiers draw closer even as with every volley of elfin arrows, several dozen of them went down, two hundred and fifty yards, two hundred yards, a hundred and fifty hards, one hundred yards. "I think it's time to give those boys an unpleasant surprise. I'll have to thank Kwanda right before I finish dealing with him, if he hadn't burnt that forest this trap would never work."

Since he was commanding a force that was made of elves and human, some of whom spoke no common language, Alexander gave his orders in a "tongue" that no one could mistake. A long loud lupine howl left his lips aimed towards the midday sun.

The Silver Wolf Army had been up much of the night taking their positions and once they had taken them, Alexander had made it quite clear that if a single man left his positions, even to relieve himself, he would die a most protracted and painful death.

With good reason of course, because just as those imperial soldiers came within a hundred meters of the elves who continuned to peeper them with arrows, it happened. Several thousand men brushed aside piles of dirt and ash that they'd half buried themselves in before rising to their feet. They were a motley crew, dressed in considerably less than proper platemail, but they were a force that would stand between Kwanda's men and the elfin archers they had been advancing on.

Not to mention about a thousand human archers who made up for in numbers what they lacked in skill when compared to their elfin counterparts. With no blossoming trees in the way they were able to fire the necessary arcing shots that took their arrows over the heads of the Silver Wolf Army's soldiers before gravity brought them down among the approaching imperial soldiers.

"They don't seem to be soiling their armor thoroughly enough that it starts to rust yet, Cal do something about that." Cal who had emerged from under the pile of dirt he'd pulled over himself sighed as he stepped past Alexander, thus becoming the front line facing Kwanda Rosman's still approaching army. He did not bother trying to free Phoenix from its strap, he just stood there, and lightning began to crackle about his body.

"All right, lets do this. Chain Lightening!" Bolts of lighting lanced out from Cal's hands like giant jagged serpents. Of course Kwanda's mages had placed protection spells around his soldiers so that magic could not bring them to harm, or even function properly near them. Those magical defences held back Cal's spell for approximately the same amount of time that a fully grown mouse would be able to keep a fully grown lion from moving along its chosen path.

The horizontal lightning bolts smashed right through them, then struck first one solider, raced up and down his metal armor, before jumping to yet another. Cal twisted his hands back and forth unleashing more and more bolts of lightning that were transforming Kwanda's men into charred lumps that the soldiers behind had to advanced over the bodies of, assuming they weren't next the victim of the lancing lightning.

Not to mention with their magical defences brought down the Silver Wolf Army's other mages pitched into the battle. More bolts of lightening shot down from the sky, smiting armored soldiers, razor spikes of ice rained down on them from thin air, balls of flame shot towards them large enough to swallow men whole and countless other uncontested magical spells now ran rampant among Kwanda's ranks.

That finally did it, before they could bring themselves to actively do battle with the Silver Wolf Army, Kwanda's men began to retreat as quickly as they could, and thanks to some very potent glares, arrows and more magic were all that followed those soldiers on their way to the castle they had departed so confidently from.

As the castle's gates closed shut Alexander calmly pretended to rub his still clean black gloves up against one another. "Florence, Mathiu, see that the Silver Wolf Army takes up position 250 meters or so from the castle, are men aren't to be within easy range of their arrows, and if any of their men are foolish enough to take up a position where one of our elfin friends has a clear shot, they can feel free to take it. Now that neither his secret weapon, or his men will be getting in my way, I'm going to go pay Kwanda Rosman a visit." No sooner had he finished speaking than he took of running at full speed leaving the rest of his army in the dust.

--

Alexander did not bother to actually bother going through the castles hallways, (and thus dealing with the couple thousand soldiers Kwanda still had his command) the imperial general had made location quite obvious when he had been trying to fry Alexander with the Burning Mirror. The black clad man took part in several conventionally impossible vertical leaps, jumping from ground to the castle gates, from the castle gates to the castle proper and then it was less then half a dozen more jumps before he landed on the roof of the fortress.

The two generals faced each other, and a vicious snarl came from Alexander's throat. "Using a stolen weapon like the Burning Mirror to destroy an entire elfin village for no real reason, that's hardly like you Rosman." Rosman met that golden eyed gaze and managed to remain unshaken.

"Maybe I got tired of the way that you could waltz in here and suddenly be the Emperor's prize pony! Maybe I was upset that he treated a sellsword like you better than his own generals who had slaved away for him. And why? Because you were lucky enough to find that stupid rock currently residing in your right hand! If it wasn't for that think you would have lived a short unimpressive life and die decades ago!

Well guess what, Court Mage Windy gave me a Black Rune that she says will make me your equal in combat, do you dare to fight an equal Alexander?" Masamune came free from Alexander's sheath and Kwanda drew his axe to answer. "I would have died centuries ago. But Emperor Barbarossa is only on the throne because he was lucky enough to be the son of a ruling monarch.

If you want to accuse someone of being in power by luck alone blame him, I on the other hand had to make my own luck, or perhaps you'd care to disprove me by going out into the world and finding a True Rune that is willing to accept you." Kwanda pointed his axe at Alexander, rage infecting his every syllable. "Shut up! Come get me Silver Wolf, see if your teeth can pierce my insurmountable defence!"

Alexander did just that. The duel, such as it was ended with the first proper exchange of blows. Alexander sent Kwanda's hammer spinning up into the air with one good stroke, then cleaved through his helmet so closely above his head that it took off a few strands of hair, before finally driving Masamune's hilt into Kwanda's face. That knocked the imperial general to his knees and Alexander sheathed Masamune to reach down and yank off his right gauntlet.

Underneath it was, what could only be described as, something. It looked like the back of Kwanda's hand looked as if someone had dropped a bottle of ink on it. "This is your Black Rune that Windy thought would match my Okami? She is no more effective at measuring my strength today then she was back in Gregormister. Let me show you true power."

Alexander removed right glove revealing the glowing orange moon engraved on the back of his hand, and grabbed hold of Kwanda's right hand. Silver light crackled up and down Alexander's arm, and it found its outlet in Kwanda's. A dark black stone shot off of the imperial's hand and flew through the air before breaking into countless tiny pieces. Alexander slipped his black glove on over his right hand before allowing Kwanda to lay in a crumpled heap in the ground.

"My Okami Rune is so much more powerful then any rune crafted by living beings that simple hand to hand contact is all I need to destroy any such rune I lay my eyes upon. What do you have to say to that?" Kwanda curled himself into a fetal ball as he lay on the cold stone and for the first time that day, he did something that well and truly took his mercenary opponent by surprise.

"I say that today's events make one more sad occurrence as far as my honor is concerned during which you saved my life and left me with little hope of being able to repay the favor. Though I suppose this time in addition to saving my life you have also saved my soul itself, if such a thing exists."

Alexander began to finger Masamune, ready for any kind of trick. "Say on..." Kwanda turned his eyes in the direction of the countless small black pebbles that were the only remanets of his Black Rune. "As I said, Court Mage Windy personally gave me the rune, and not a day has passed since I first made use of it that I did not regret it. For once it adorned my hand, I could not remove it for all my force of will and I found myself bound by unusual compulsions and my own body and mind subject to a will not my own. Can you imagine any fate worse then being a prisoner within your own body?"

Alexander tapped the back of his right hand three times as Kwanda knelt before him. "Pansy. How could you possibly hope to defeat me when I'd been living your worst nightmare for longer than you've been alive? To bear a True Rune is to become a vessel for an immortal power that has little care for what its vessel wants. The Okami Rune wants to make sure I stay intact, but it knows no particular reason why I should be kept comfortable."

Kwanda's face palled slightly but he managed to find some of his old courage. "Though I can hardly say that I know, but I would guess that it is better to find your mind overthrown by some immortal power that is so different then anything one normally encounters, because it's very oddness provides a certain amount insulation against such feelings. At least when held up against the feeling of having one of your fellow humans turn you into her puppet."

Alexander did not chose to comment on that, instead walking over to Kwanda's axe and holding it out for him to take. "You can start repaying me by surrendering your fortress, your men, and yourself to the Silver Wolf Army." Kwanda refused to so much as lay a finger upon his weapon. "I think I could do a dam slight better then that. Somehow I doubt that I am the only man unfortunate enough to be presented with one of Court Mage Windy's infernal in every sense of the word, runes.

Surly her position would have made it possible for her to present them to the my fellow generals as well, and possibly even Emperor Barbarossa himself. I swore on my life to protect the Emperor and his Empire, and even if the only way to dismantle the machinations of that harlot is to dismantling the Emperor's own place brick by brick, I will see such events take place.

Though I have no idea what her goals are, the means she uses to try and achieve them, they are distasteful enough that I need to not actually know what ends she seeks, to know I will oppose them. Hopefully I will be able to convince a great many of my men, those you left alive of the same." Alexander once again tried to force the axe into Kwanda's hands.

"I knew nothing of the Black Rune beforehand and thus the direct destruction of your army was my only logical choice. The other generals I will be more careful in dealing with, you realizing that the way you have been stirring up hatred against the elves, may make the prospect of working with them and the Silver Wolf Army rather unappealing to your men."

Kwanda sighed as he took the axe and then simply dropped it to the ground. "Not even you General Alexander, to the best of my knowledge at least, possess the ability to move backwards in time to undue past wrongs and mistakes. All I can do is slam a couple heads together and see if that does not have some effect. More over, I would hope my men possess such loyalty to me that seeing how Windy played me like a fool, like a puppet, would anger them enough to make them ready to seek revenge against her and accept aid from Hikussak himself."

The name of the Head Priest of Harmonia who Barbarossa's elder had rebelled against to form the Scarlet Moon Empire and tearing a good sized chunk out of a Harmonia which while still the largest nation on the face of Suikoden that had been even larger back then made Alexander flinch for only a moment. "Hopefully it won't come to that."

He murmured the words so quietly that Kwanda wondered if they had even been meant for anyone's ears but his own. "Either way, as for the rest, those who will not follow you, I suppose we will just slap them in chains and toss them in a dungeon somewhere." Alexander shook his head emphatically at this. "Unless we have a had a sudden upturn in luck while I was not looking, supplies remain something the Silver Wolf Army needs all it can get its hands on.

I refuse to piss away my own supplies giving them to those who not only do not fight or otherwise help our army, and in fact actively hate us, its just not good tactics. Even if we fed them only a miserably small ration such as most prisoners are given, the food that feeds a thousand miserable prisoners could keep five hundred soldiers utterly free of hunger.

Those of your men who refuse to fight the Emperor, refuse to even serve the Silver Wolf Army in more menial tasks like hunting and fishing for supplies, you can tell them this from me Kwanda. They will have their weapons and armor taken from them, given two days rations and left to walk back to Ain Gide's fortress."

Kwanda's face paled beneath his helmet. "The first day or so of that walk is through a burnt forest filled with elfin survivors who must hate the Scarlet Moon Empire and my men in particular from the very bottom of their hearts. Unless nearly all the elves go with your army then I'd lay even odds every other man who attempted that journey would end it with an arrow in either his heart or head."

Alexander shrugged impassively at fate of the supposed soldiers. "You say that as if imprisonment would be preferable Kwanda. Spending day after day after day after day, in a ten foot by ten foot cell, fighting a losing battle against the insects and rodents that infest your clothing, place of sleep, and of course your own body. Never getting enough food, enough sunlight, enough of anything...

It's death by inches, don't you feel it would be better for everyone involve to just be over and done with it? I'm willing to give them a chance to simply serve us without putting our lives in danger, if they refuse to take that generous offer, well its not my job to keep men from signing their own death warrants." Kwanda gazed at the pieces of the Burning Mirror and then nodded numbly. "I suppose it isn't. Rather it is a soldier's duty to sign the death warrants of their foes."


	10. Chapter 10

Ronin Trip

FN: Found time to edit this even with job and since the hit and review count (thanks again Reiko x 3) is reasonable, here is the next chapter with no overly long wait this time!

Chapter ten: Mission of mercy

"Why do you order our men to take and fortify the fortress? With it's capture nothing stands between us and an assault on General Oppenheimer's castle." Alexander, Florence, Mathiu, and Kwanda were all in a large room in the newly capture Imperial Fortress that had held a crucial bridge across lake Toran, and now that the Silver Wolf Army held it, it was they who could come and go and they pleased and the Imperials who would have to operate their forces on either side of the lake independently from one another.

From the top of the castle hung two banners, first the six pointed star that was the emblem of the Prophets of Destruction and secondly the flag of the Silver Wolf Army. That second flag was most oddly designed all things considered, it was a field of black that gave way to nothing but white in such a way as to trick the eye into seeing a white wolf rampant upon the flag. It had been more or less three months since Kwanda's defection.

During that time Alexander had personally overseen the training of the Silver Wolf Army which now well and truly and army and not just people working together for common cause. They had shown off the difference to the imperials who had foolishly been willing to challenge them on the open battlefields outside the fortress. The imperials had been given a sound thrashing there before the Silver Wolf Army's soldiers went about flushing those who had remained within the stone walls from wherever they had taken refuge.

Alexander motioned towards a large map of the Scarlet Moon Empire that had been relocated from their castle on Lake Toran and bore a number of pins representing everything they knew of the current tactical situation. Luckily despite the defeat of Kwanda (or possibly due to how total that defeat had been) the Emperor had yet to martial any kind of organized resistance against Alexander's rebellion.

That left the Silver Wolf Army free to tear one chunk after another out of Barbarossa's forces rather then having to take on the suicidal task of swallowing them all at once. Though Ain Gide's castle had been closer to Lake Toran Milch Oppenhimer's castle, Gide's castle was also closer to Gregormister, there was no easy way for Oppenhimer to get a request for reinforcements to Emperor Barbarossa and it would have been doubly impossible for those reinforcements to have gotten to him in anything approaching reasonable time.

So when the time for the hammer blow fell upon Milich Oppenhimer it would be only his twelve thousand men against all the might Alexander could bring to bare upon him. "Kwanda since you've only served with Oppenhimer, its understandable that you never took the time to seriously asses his strengths, weaknesses, and personal skills. However, as a mercenary I always keep one eye on the man who hired me and those who serve him, and well that I did considering our current situation.

Oppenhimer is not only known as the 'Flower General' for his particular style of dress. Conventional wisdom is that it is impossible to launch a successful attack against him if he is prepared to meet the attack. His castle is surrounded by poisoned roses who can release a venom so powerful that any man who inhales it falls instantly into an unnatural sleep. If we try to attack him head on his roses will paralyse every single man we put in the field.

Kwanda's eyebrows flickered upwards at that knowledge. "No wonder the Emperor held that fop in such high regard. A weapon such as that which can imobilize entire armies, it would seem a truly insurmountable defence." Alexander smiled as he walked over to the map, and motioned to Florence who tossed him a small crystal pin that might have once been a noble lady's earing.

"Not quite. For though men subjected to the poison would never awaken on their own, before every battle Oppenhimer would expose his own men to a powder that would make them immune to his roses effect, because the poison was known to hang on the battlefield for hours after it was released. You are correct Kwanda, brining the Flower General to battle while we are vulnerable to the roses is impossible. But we need not be vulnerable to them. Mathiu, tell Kwanda what you told me before we even embarked on this campaign."

Mathiu cleared his throat and then looked directly at the former imperial general. "Oppenhimer is a brilliant tactician, and while he loves flowers, unlike Lady Bastien, he is not a, what was the word you used... botanist?" Florence nodded in approval and the Silverberg continuned. "Suffice to say, Oppenhimer knows about as much about flowers as your average nobleman who likes to ride knows about horses. He knows how to take care of them, but did not originally breed the poison roses and he doesn't have the seeds to sow more of them, only make sure the poison roses surrounding his castle breed like normal plants.

The man who made them for him, and also made the antidote to them, he, like me got tired of being tool of nobles and wanted to simply live quietly and became a small apothecary." THWACK! Alexander drove the pin through the map like a sword through a man's heart and then took over from his strategist. "We recruit this man, we gain the antidote to the poison roses and effectively nullify them.

So for the moment our plan is to launch a couple of peripheral operations against Oppenhimer. The main one of course is gaining the support of the man who bread the poison roses in the first place, but a couple secondary ones that might be of considerable importance down the road exist. Now that we have this fortress we have a much wider 'sea' in which to cast our net for soldiers, my hope is that we can outnumber Oppenhimer before we launch the attack.

With the imperial army in this area now effectively forced to reside on a small stone island of Oppenhimer's castle and us free to walk where we like, it shouldn't be all that hard to convince people that the Silver Wolf Army is not only here to make the world a better place, but actively in the process of remaking it.

Granted all that aside, the most basic reason that we did not launch an attack is that the men of the Silver Wolf Army did well, they disserve a chance for rest and relaxation. If there was something to be gained from pushing them hard then I'd push them hard, but either way when we get there Oppenhimer's men will be well rested, and our men are at a distinct disadvantage if they march into battle half asleep."

Kwanda bowed his head just barely missing the table. "You are correct Alexander. It shames me to say it, but after residing 'on the shelf' for so long, it makes my blood beat hard and fast to once again be involved in a true war with a righteous cause.

Now that I once again set myself in motion I find it hard to stop. I suppose that is an advantage you have had over all of us Alexander, while we rested on our laurels content with victory you kept moving. You have had to deal with no sudden sharp stops or starts, but instead simply long smooth continual pace. I'd wonder how any man might have the strength of limb to fight one war right after another, had I not spent so much of my idle time wondering how any man could fight only one war.

That may be why you look so good at your age, you've been using your muscles near constantly while we've been made prisoners of our privilege." Mathiu looked at the Silver Wolf, evidently Kwanda did not know the full extent of the power that resided in Alexander's right hand. He did not so much as twitch under either Kwanda's honest question, or Mathiu's watching eyes.

"The battlefield is a harsh mistress, but let no one say that she does not grant boons to those who survive her embraces and still remain faithful to her. Now then, I want to personally make my presence known in every nearby town, even if the process involves ridding so hard that my mount's shoes' start to glow red like when they were first forged. It's a pathetic little trick I learned from a bastard who would stop at nothing to manipulate the way people thought, but there's no great evil or mysticism to it.

If you want to make your point, go in person rather then sending a lackey, especially when your trying to make a point to people who have never met you before. Sadly I have no great skill at making speeches, but luckily my own presence should do must of the talking." "I find it hard to imagine that you are unskilled at giving speeches Alexander." Alexander shrugged as he looked at Kwanda.

"I give that impression because I can read people, but you can not read a crowd of people who you've never met before, know what each and every single memeber of it is thinking, wants to hear, and wants to do, any man who tells you otherwise is a fool. So I'll just take a page from James' book and tell them the straight truth, it always has a rather pleasant novelty to it after all."

--

Cal yanked the piece of parchment off the door, scanned it, and growled. "Well this is just great. We better make sure Boss is outside when we tell him or else he's going to hit the ceiling." Mirri took the note and read it out loud very slowly. "To all it does concern. The apothecary Luikan has been imprisoned for crimes against Emperor Barbarossa. From: Imperial General Milich Oppenheimer."

Mirri crumpled the note and sighed. "That's just all kinds of wonderful. We tramp out here and its all for not, lets get the hell back to the boat and then back to the castle." They had discovered that a series of rapids that no normal boat could get passed blocked the way Luikan's home, of course James had quickly come up with a solution for this. "Let's just leave her in dry dock!"

It had taken him a moment or two to explain the nautical term but once they understood they quickly agreed with it. So they had basically driven their ship ashore at the nearest patch of reasonable turf, tied it up to make sure it wouldn't go anywhere and then just gone the rest of the way on foot, after all it wasn't like you needed a perfect wooden to dock to make sure you ship wouldn't drift away.

As they reboarded the vessel Devi begin to scratch her chin as she considered the situation. "I do believe I know the first person we should ask when we get back."

--

Kwanda looked at the four Prophets of Destruction and carefully arranged his thoughts before speaking. "If Oppenheimer didn't just lock the doctor in the depths of his own castle the man was probably sent to Soniere Prison. It used to be an actual fortress, and I hardly think any of us here have the right to deploy the Silver Wolf Army against it. I'm not sure how effective it would be anyway, you'd have to ask Mathiu I doubt there are poisoned roses defending it, but it's still not going to be an easy place to attack from without.

I wish I knew more, but this was never my portion of the Scarlet Moon Empire to look after." Cal listened to it all and then sighed. "So you've never sent someone there and would happen to be able to describe the papers the guards would need to be presented with upon delivering a new prisoner?" Kwanda shook his head and then Cal sighed again.. "So the most immediate sneaky path is out, clearly its time to bust out the Plan B, or as Devi called it, Plan Sneakier."

The four headed up to the war room, and James couldn't help but stare at the crystal pin which resented the task they were supposed to have taken care of. Out of pure honesty he pulled it free from the map, and placed it into the middle of Soniere Prison. Once he had done that he slumped back into his chair. "You sure we shouldn't wait for Alex and Florence to get back before we move with a plan as complicated as this?"

Devi shook her head. "Having Alex and Florence along would only make the situation worse. Four is just the right number for this plan. Cal, your going to need parchment, ink, feathers, and some of your own 'special FC' mix, I trust you've still got plenty of the last on hand and can find the first three here?" Cal nodded taking a moment to run a hand along Phoenix's length to steady himself. "Yeah, I can handle that." Devi turned her eyes to the vampire in the room.

"Mirri for my plan to work you have to be able to sound like an untouched virgin instead of a vampire who's spent the last two centuries seducing everything that met your personal standards." Mirri batted an eyelash at that. "Hey at least 90 of my seductions have been of one particular race, humans, and of one particular sex..." "Can you pull it off?" Mirri stooped in mid rant, stuck her hands together, blinked a few times to make her red eyes as large as possible (it was a rather disconcerting sight) and spoke, her voice a couple octaves higher then normal.

"Oh my, how could you possibly make such a scandalous suggestion, I am ashamed to even hear it!" "I suppose that will have to do. Which brings us to you James. To pull this plan off I'm going to need you to act in a way that no person with even so much as a shred of dignity would even consider most likely involving physical and emotional pain, think you're up to it?"

James stood and nodded firmly. "Dignity? I don't know the meaning of the word!" That was James Firecat all right, taking pride in his complete and utter lack of pride. "All right then, let's get this sucker in motion, Alex will want to have everything ready to roll when he gets back and I'm sure as hell not going to let him down." The other three nodded.

--

The two guards looked at the four odd figures before them. "The Sisters of Light? Never heard of them." The two women were dressed in heavy white hooded cloaks that combined with their stances made it impossible to see even the slightest aspects of their faces. The shorter one responded to the guard's suspicion with timid voice. "We're only a small group of women who seek to do a little good in the world. We brought down as much food as we could spare to give to these poor unfortunate retches in the hope that it truly is never too late for them to see the redeeming light of God."

The guard carefully pulled the woollen cloth off the top of the cart that the two women stood on either side of, and saw indeed just as they had said, a great many imperishable foodstuffs stacked across on another. The guard began to reach for one of the loaves of bread, when the taller woman let out a cry of dismay. "Please sir, the food must remain untouched by male hands! We believe that food most nourishes not only the body but also the soul if passed directly from out hands the prisoner's themselves."

The guard pulled back and sighed, evidently not about to seriously upset their unplanned for visitors. Of course that didn't meant they were just going to wave them all through. "And who exactly are you?" The man accompanying the two Sisters of Light stood up as straight as he could proving himself to be taller than the guard in the process. "See how things are in these barbarous nations? Men at arms expect a pair of defenceless sisters to travel all the way from Harmonia on their own!

The Howling Voice Guild has always been willing to serve the church or any of its branches at a most reasonable price." This man was the very image of a real Harmonian, bright blond hair that shimmered in the sunlight, and cold ice blue eyes that showed precious little beyond disdain. But the guards were still not fully satisfied. "How can we be sure that your really a member of the Howling Voice Guild? Word has it that one of the higher ups among the rebels we've been having problems with is a Harmonian who has a rifle."

The Harmonian looked at the man and scoffed. "Backwards and foolish beyond words! There have been those who tried to make use of the Guild's knowledge for their own ends, and in turn they have always come to the same end, a bullet to properly proving just how empty their heads' are. But apparently out here in the uncivilized nation anything can be taken for the truth if it repeated enough times.

But if my weapon alone is not enough evidence for you, behold my papers. My name is Nathan Ferris, and here is the proof of membership in the Howling Voice Guild, and here is my bloodline going far back in detail ten generations, ironic considering I doubt either of you even know who you fathers were."

The guards wouldn't have taken that under normal circumstances, but when the man insulting them was a Harmonian, they let it slide. They took the papers from Nathan and looked over them, though neither of them were about to admit that they had nothing to compare the man's papers against. They certainly looked official with a great many seals, signatures, and otherwise notations of authenticity. Eventually they passed the papers back and Nathan shoved them into the same portion of his outfit that he had pulled them from.

Of course with those three taken care the guards disapproving gazes fell on the fourth memeber of the group. He was a red furred nay-kobold dressed in illfitting brown rags wearing a belt which held several knives quite openly, though his eyes held the dull glazed expression of one who was not quite paying full attention to anything that was going on.

"And who exactly is he?" The nay-kobold said nothing but Nathan snorted in rage and looked ready to slap the guard who had spoken. "Don't go calling my property 'he' you'll give it delusions of garndure that I'll have to beat out of its head which is so devoid of intelligence that any foolish idea has plenty of room to make themselves at home. I can present my deed if you should need to see it." Neither of the guards wanted to, the rich of Harmonia were richer then anyone else, but subsequently the poor of Harmonia were poorer then anyone else.

Third class Harmonian citizens were not quite slaves, but frequently the only way they could get by on was by selling themselves into the service of others. "All right come on in, but the warden will probably want to ask you some questions himself. The two guards opened the door and Nathan turned to the nay-kobold. "Don't just stand there shedding Whiskers, take the cart again!

"Whiskers" grabbed the cart and proceed to drag it behind him without any aid from the other three much to the guard's surprise. Nathan just calmly tapped his riffle at this great display of strength. "What do you think I am so foolish that I'd allow myself to make a bad purchase? I've ridden horses smarter then Whiskers but I've also ridden ones that were weaker then him." And so the two guards escorted them to the warden who listened to their story and squinted at them, especially the two females. "Remove your hoods, I want to see your faces."

The two both gave out simultaneous scandalized screams and Nathan stepped before them a fierce glare fixed upon his face. "The two sisters made it quite clear to me that members of their order are never to remove their hoods in the presence of men." The warden tapped his large hands on his desk. "That may be how it is in Harmonia but I can not simply allow..."

Nathan removed his gun from it's strap though he didn't go about pointing it at the warden, yet. "The way things are in Harmonia is the way things are all across Suikoden. We allow you to amuse yourselves with the bright shiny prospect of freedom like children with a toy, but bare in mind that toy can be taken away just as quickly. If I return home with stories of how you forced these two sisters to break their scared oath to God, or if I do not return at all, then there will be severe repercussions for the Scarlet Moon Empire.

Your nation is already falling apart at the seams from everything I've witnessed on my way here. As you may have also have notice if you care to look at my family tree, my brother is a bishop, it takes only one bad word from me, to put Harmonia's armies in motion. The Grasslander's might have fought us to a draw, but only because they were savages who did not understand the value of their own lives, or have anything resembling a proper nation to conquer.

Pitted against your "empire" we would have captured your capital and turned every single one of you and your children, and their children, and their children into third class citizens like Whiskers. Do you really want to be the man responsible for the downfall of your entire nation, or do you want to behave like a civilized person and bow to the inevitability of Harmonian rule?

Because if we must make the point to you uncivilized barbarians at the point of a sword, well Harmonia has never backed down from a fight to protect God and his servants. So then what do you have to say?" The Warden's face had drained of color and his hands gone very still. His words came out slowly as if he needed a supreme effort to get each one out.

"Very well then, Which prisoners do the sisters wish to see?" The shorter one spoke slowly and confidently. "We would wish to see those scheduled soon for execution first as they have the shortest amount of time to realize the error of their ways and repent their sins." The warden nodded very slowly, no sense in going back on his promise now. "Very well then, you six take care of showing them to cells where we're keeping the rebels in till the hangman has time for them."

--

The six guards might have been somewhat on edge, but they were not alert enough. Once they had arrived at the cells the two sisters wanted to see, it happened in the blink of an eye. The taller sister grabbed two men by the back of their throats and neatly throttled them. The shorter sister simply reached out and laid right hand which had up to that point been hidden within the folds of her cloak on one solider's armor.

That right hand had an odd symbol on the back of it, four wavy green lines, and no sooner had she touched the guard's armor then he dropped to the floor. The Harmonian's gun rang out and another solider dropped dead. The last two went down in quick succession, as they were suddenly assaulted by a veritable storm of knives. The prisoners who had been watching the sister's arrival with the detachment of men who were not long for the world suddenly became quite animated. "What is going on?"

The taller sister tossed aside her robe, revealing the white jacket, and black long pants of Mirri Catwarrior. "We're here with two big presents, food and hope. Here's the food." She grabbed a piece of bred and hurled it through the cell's bars at the man who had asked her. Then her hands transformed into claws which reduced the cells bars to scraps of metal in no time. Then she walked into the cell and proceeded to tear apart the man's shackles with equal ease.

James Firecat dug his hand in under the top layer of food and came up with a glistening short sword. He followed Mirri through the cell's twisted bars, and laid it at the feet of the man who was quickly devouring the loaf of bred. "Here's the hope." Devi reached under the food and came up with her flail, wrapped it around the bar of another cell, and pulled, yanking the bar right out of the ceiling and floor.

The four Prophets of Destruction quickly went about the task of freeing the prisoner's from their bonds and arming from the stockpile of weapons that had been hidden underneath a thin layer of rations. It was Devi who summed up the situation for the illfead but no well armed prisoners. "There's only one way out of this jail and it happens to lead over the bodies of the people who put you in here to start with.

We can probably take down plenty of them, but some of your are going to have to use those weapons, especially while we're busy freeing more prisoners and you might end up dead. Of course if what we were told is true none you were going to live very long anyway, so it's up to you, if you want to go back to your cells and wait for the noose be my guest, if you want to live free, you've got to earn it. Any of you got a problem with that?"

There was a rousing chorus of negatives, there is nothing so much like the prospect of dieing without any chance to defend yourself to make one ready to follow any path which might lengthen it.

--

Before long all of Soniere Prison was up in arms and the Prophets had managed to free Doctor Luikan from his cell via the process of freeing every single prisoner they came across. As the large mob headed for the doors of the prison the four Prophets leading the way ran into a problem, the true owner of the prison Milich Oppenhimer.

"I'm surprised, I would have thought give your reputation for pinpoint precision you would simply gone straight for Luikan's cell and then absconded drawing as little attention to yourselves in the process as possible. Instead you seem determined to turn my entire prison upside down." Mirri lustily licked a few drops of blood from her fingertips.

"Common tactics Oppenhiemer, every single one of your prisoners we free is another soldier in our army. What are you going to try and do about it, try and stop us right here and now, man to woman?" Oppenheimer smiled as he reached into his elaborate robes and pulled out a small glass vile. "I was saving this for Alexander, but I suppose using it to wipe out four of his disciples would hardly be putting it to waste. It contains agony spores, they're man eaters, they'll rip the very flesh from your bones like paranas.

Meanwhile, I will be safe behind this door while you and every single one of my prisoners who you have freed will get what is coming to them, farewell for the last time!" The Imperial General hurled the small glass vial towards the floor of the room with all his strength. However, James Firecat's paws moving with all with such celerity that his hands literally moved faster than most eyes could follow drew a knife and hurled it before the bottle hit the ground.

Instead of his usual straight pull back on release James put a particular spin on this throw, the dagger spun end over end, in a spiralling three hundred sixty degrees time after time. Eventually the butt end of the knife finally slammed into the vial, with the impact transferring a noticeable amount of momentum to the vial. It flipped upwards into the air coming just short of slamming into the ceiling. Of course what goes up must come back down again and as the vial plummeted a second time it landed directly in the palm of a red gloved appendage.

"A guy doesn't spend hours playing catch with his favorite mouse without learning a thing or two about the movement of small objects in mid air!" Cal brought Phoenix up and centred it on Milich's head. "Looks like there's nothing in your futures but lilies Oppenheimer." Pure skill had saved the lives of the four Prophets, nothing but pure luck saved that of their opponent.

He stumbled backwards in shock at how James had pulled his metaphorical fangs, and by said pure luck the hinges happened on the door behind him happened to be arranged so that pressing backwards against the door made it swing open. The door refused to bear his weight, and Oppenheimer fell backwards through the door, causing Cal's bullet to miss him my only a few inches Devi raced over to the door and yanked on it, but apparently Oppenhiemer had gotten himself together quick enough to lock he door.

Mirri quickly went to shadow and slipped under the door to unlock it, but she held up a hand when Cal looked ready to rush through. "If Oppenhiemer is under the control of a Black Rune there's nothing that we could do effectively to him, only Alexander can free him. Let's consolidate our victories out here rather then go out on a limb..."

--

"Okay boys here's how it is. If you want another shot at the people who locked you up, then come with us and there'll be three good meals a day weather what you do is spend all you do is spend your days out in a boat and manage to catch more fish then you need to eat, or swing a sword about. Those of you who don't want to help the Silver Wolf Army, feel free to head off in any direction we don't!"

--

Alexander road a simple gray stallion up to the fortress and swung off of it without the horse coming to a complete stop. Florence was coaming up behind him on a roan mare and Alexander turned to face the four Prophets who he had left behind.

"So I assume other than getting your hands on the botanist I needed you haven't been exerting yourselves much?" The four looked at each other and then Mirri chuckled awkwardly. "You could say that, you could also say in addition to said botanist we also managed to round up another thousand soldiers of our own and some guys who want to feed them as well. Long story there..." Alexander said a few choice words that greatly relieved the four. "Well then I probably won't have time to hear it till after I finish hammering out and executing our plans for dealing with Milich Oppenheimer."

FN: In this chapter we get to see how the handle themselves even when they don't have that magnificent bastard Alexander Diamondclaw aiding them in their efforts.


	11. Chapter 11

Ronin Trip

Once again thanks to Reiko x 3 her constant reviews are in turn a constant source of inspiration. Also I feel it needs to be pointed out (in case it hasn't been already) that if you enjoy this story you should go check out the stories posted by thegr8sephiroth (/u/838718/thegr8sephiroth) since they were written by me before he edited and posted them. Once again read, (hopefully) enjoy, and (very hopefully) review.

Chapter eleven: Paralysed by the past.

The Silver Wolf Army approached Oppenheimer's castle with the Prophets of Destruction leading the way. The poison roses that guarded said castle released their perfidious pollen to great Milich's unwanted guests. The stuff cut through the ranks of the Silver Wolf Army like a scythe as row after row of soldiers fell to the ground and lay there still as stones.

His opponents soundly defeated, Milich Oppenheimer sent his army out to be about binding his fallen foes up like oversized parcels to be sent to Emperor Barbarossa. The soldiers approached cautiously at first, and the army stood back as six men went about the process of separating the Prophets of Destruction from their weapons, and binding them with stout rope, but once everyone saw how their most deadly foes remained utterly inactive, Oppenheimer's men began to laugh and joke with one another, once again their commander had won a them victory without his soldiers having to get dirty, let alone bloody.

Then one unfortunate soldier bent down to remove a blade that was held in the hands of an ordinary solider of the Silver Wolf Army. As he separated the blade from the man's right hand, his left (which had been laying concealed underneath his body) wrapped around a daggers hilt. The "paralyzed" soldier's right hand then grabbed hold of the imperial soldier's right legs and yanked him to the ground. At close range a stolen sword in the hands of a surprised man was no match for a dagger in the hands of a one who had been waiting for this exact moment like a coiled spring.

As the so imperial solider went down a pair of golden yellow eyes opened, a few seconds later a mouth. An inhuman howl came loose from Alexander Diamondclaw's throat. His body began to glow silver till it became almost painful to behold, and when the silver light finally dimmed, Alexander Diamondclaw was gone. The ropes that had bound him had fallen to the ground shredded by the force they had hopelessly tried to contain.

In Alexander's place was a huge wolf that had to be near twenty feet long from snout to tail standing taller then a man, and it wasted no time in throwing itself into the fray. It's huge claws speared a pair of soldiers, even its teeth closed around a soldier's neck before the wolf gulped down the soldier's head, helmet and all.

Mirri Catwarrior transformed into shadow and slipped free from her bonds, one slash of her claws freeing James Firecat a few moments later. The ropes that held Callan Wright suddenly began fray as bolts of lighting ran up and down his body until they simply burst into flames allowing him to wriggle free. He in turn fired off a minuscule bolt of lightning from his finger tip that had a most incendiary effect upon the ropes holding Devi Skye. Vines shot out from the ground and quickly yanked apart the ropes holding Florence Bastien.

Countless eyes opened, countless hands seized a tighter grip on their weapons, and countless throats strove to echo the howl that had come from Alexander's throat. The men of Milich Oppenheimer's army had seen victory before their very eyes and had relaxed themselves, thus allowing themselves to be caught more or less completely by surprise and completely out of formation.

Granted the Silver Wolf Army didn't have much more in the way of formation left either, and thus the entire fight quickly became less of a military action and much more a many sided brawl. But the Silver Wolf Army had been expecting this particular turn of events and the imperials hadn't even been expecting to wet their blades. Fairly soon the thousand or so more men Oppenhiemer had upon the field for him did not matter in the slightest.

Especially because close to half his army threw down their weapons in shock as the Silver Wolf Army rose up, surrendering out of nothing more than sheer surprise. It didn't take long for the half that did try to stay in the fight to start surrendering as well. Those who still refused to give up went down beneath their opponents blades. Amid the chaos and bloodshed the gigantic wolf vanished, and when the battle finally ended Alexander Diamondclaw ordered his soldiers to take care of their numerous prisoners while the Prophets of Destruction headed off to flush their foe from his castle.

--

"What do you think your doing?" Alexander held out the bottle of liquor with a small piece of rope sticking out of it for Cal, and sure enough lightening jumped from Cal's hand to the piece of rope igniting it. Then the silver haired general hurled the bottle at one of Oppenhimer's flower beds which was currently in the process of growing more poison roses. "We're picking your posies Oppenhiemer. Don't worry I brought a present for you as well. Florence, why don't you teach our host that if he insist on playing on flowers, flowers might want to play with him?"

A pair of ordinary enough looking flowers suddenly grew much longer and wrapped themselves around Oppenhiemer's arms and legs leaving him completely restrained. Alexander pulled off his right glove revealing the unique mark that dwelled upon his right palm, then walked slowly over to the imperial general as who flailed away helplessly and removed Oppenheimer's right glove, revealing a large black smudge upon the back of his hand.

Alexander grasped it firmly and a few moments later the Black Rune's connection to its host was broken, and just like Kwanda's it flew from his hand then exploded into a shower of small pieces. Milich Oppenheimer's eyes rolled back in his head, but after blinking a few times his eyes possessed a strange clarity. "I never intended to release the agony spores on tightly packed people, you have to believe me!" The flowers binding him relaxed and Alexander helped him roughly to his feet. "Don't bother going into it in detail, we already had this conversation with Kwanda Rosman when I blew his Black Rune into tiny pieces."

Oppenhimer looked at the floor and nodded slowly. "It saddens me to hear that he has also held captive by those accursed stones , but in turn gladdens me to know that his time under that horrific woman's spell was even shorter then mine. Do you have any more of those bottles on you?

My friend Luikan was right, flowers were meant to be grown so that people could enjoy there buety not to facilitate in the ease with which we can lay waste to one another." "Think fast Milich, this baby is going up in about five seconds." Cal tossed a bottle with lit fuse to Oppenheimer who following either the mercenary's instructions or his own rageing emotions at once hurled the bottle into a batch of poisoned roses causing them to explode most magnificently.

"I'll gladly lend my skills and those of any of my men who still think I am fit to command them if it will help bring about Windy's defeat." James always one to show an idiot savants skill at math was much cheered by this announcement. "Hey Alex, that means of the seven generals who Barbarossa thought were truly great, Teo McDohl, Kasim Hazil, Milich Oppenheimer, Sonya Shulen, Kwanda Rosman Ain Gide and you, we've now got three of them on our side. I think that means we're only one more general away from making the other side effectively the rebels and us the rightful rulers of the Scarlet Moon Empire."

Alexander glare was cold as ice, but slowly like the first bud emerging with the spring thaw came a small smile. "If you think that means we're going to be fighting this campaign any differently James you're wrong. However, you are correct in the sense that regardless of the situation, strength of arms does give one a rudimentary sort of claim to anything they want. I think with Oppenhiemer's army joining ours, especially after that battle in which we didn't kill too many of them or to take too many casualties ourselves, we should have at least twenty thousand men, maybe thirty thousand if we're lucky. Let's finish up here, then head back to our castle on Lake Toran and we'll discover just what the future holds."

--

"Do you think he'll listen, it's been a long while since you two have seriously talked." When they had gotten back to their castle they had found almost everyone speaking of how General Teo McDohl and his Armored Calvary had been pulled down and were just waiting for the Silver Wolf Army to set foot upon on the east side of the lake so that they could attack.

That was a pleasure Alexander planed to deny them, only three members of the Silver Wolf Army were going ashore, himself, Kwanda Rosman and Milich Oppenhimer. Alexander was rowing giving the two Imperial Generals plenty of times to converse. "If he can listen I think he will. But if he's been stricken with one of Windy's foul Black Runes..." Alexander shook his head even as a small wave stirred up by his own oaring splashed up against the boat. "I in turn have my doubts that he has one luckily enough.

You were both presented your Black Runes by Windy personally while you were in The capital. Teo left for the Scarlet Moon Empire's northern border of the kingdom well before Windy had Black Runes to give you. Of course we won't know till we try, but still..." Kwanda nodded at the words. "Yes, if we can convert Teo and his Armored Calvary to our side then we should become truly a forced to be reckoned with, we might even be able take the Silver Wolf Army and head straight for Gregermister and make that witch Windy pay for her crimes in full."

Alexander's glared stonily at Kwanda as he continuned to row without missing a beat. "I lead the Silver Wolf Army, and even with the Armored Calvary at my command, I have no plan intention of making foolish moves that Windy might exploit to her advantage. Even if this meet ends as well as we hope we will still continue to slowly undermine the Golden Emperor rather than attacking him head on If either of you have a problem with that, feel free to get out of the boat and swim." Both of Alexander's passengers remained silent.

--

Alexander got off the boat holding an oar with a white flag waving from it in both hands. The man so great he was not even considered one of the five grand Imperial Generals, Teo McDohl waited for him with his own two aids by another pole stuck into the ground with a white flag flying from it. Alexander walked up to them, and nodded to Teo who nodded back. "So Alexander have you come to surrender?"

Alexander shook his head firmly. "I had rather come with the opposite intention, offering you a chance to surrender to me." Teo's eyebrows twitched as he heard those words. "Interesting, you weren't the kind to joke during the War of Succession. There's no force that has ever been able to defeat my Armored Calvary. Do you honestly think you'll be the first?"

Alexander just looked Teo directly in the eyes. "An army is only as powerful as the person commanding it, and I believe that I can convince you to join me." Teo looked at the two white flags. "We are meeting under this flag of truce to talk. So very well let us, but you will need to be most persuasive to undue my faith in Emperor Barbarossa." Alexander shook out his long silver hair and then spoke.

"Simply put, you must realize you are not taking orders from Emperor Barbarossa but from Lady Windy. Kwanda, Oppenheimer, explain to Teo about the Black Runes." Both men shivered at the very mention of the things before Kwanda spoke. "To bare one is to have your entire body suborned, unable to move the tiniest finger, speak the shortest syllable if it would be contrary to Lady Windy's aims." Milich added his own testimony. "They were the most horrific of my days, forced to betray my oldest friends, there was nothing she could not have made me do."

Alexander gave the two a quick nod before returning his attention to Teo McDohl. "Windy was able to get these two to put on her Black Runes by telling them it would increase their abilities in battle. Considering to what degree she has the Emperor's ear it would be no great leap of imagination for her to have gotten Barbarossa to adorn himself with one as well. That would give her complete control of the Emperor's mind and with his mind overthrown she would well and truly have his empire as well.

She could make the Emperor tell you whatever she wanted to further her own ends, like killing me and my men." Teo looked at all three of them stonily. "It is a mighty fine tale you tell me, that Lady Windy has created a rune that allows her to controls someone, but do you have any proof?" Alexander drove the pole firmly into the ground, and then proceeded to cross his arms. "Even if she doesn't have direct control of Barbarossa's mind you must admit that Windy wields too much power in Barbarossa's court. Even more importantly, have I ever lied to you Teo?"

Teo ground his teeth in anger. "It is not my place to question who Emperor Barbarossa puts his trust in. As for if you have ever lied to you Alexander, I have one word for you, Tir." Alexander looked down to the ground for a moment and his own teeth grinding up against one another in anger. "I told you before Teo, things could not have happened differently."

Teo wasn't about to believe it however. "You told me that you could save my son!" Alexander matched Teo glare for glare. "I said that if anyone could have saved him we could have! But he was dead before we attacked." "They killed him before you could reach him!" Alexander refused to give an inch. "Damn right they did! Geil knew from the start that his men wouldn't be able to hold back the Prophets of Destruction, we'd broken through too many times, his only chance was to defeat the rest of Barbarossa's army in the field, and to do that he needed to reduce your Armored Calvary to just calvary.

Mirri read your son's blood even though we had to pour water on it to get it liquid enough for her to drink, he'd been dead for well over twenty four hours before we got to him. You didn't want your son to see you killing people so you refused to take him with you on the campaign. Maybe if you'd had your son protected by proper military soldiers rather then a couple of retainers he wouldn't have been kidnapped in the first place!"

Teo's hands began to twitch and inch towards the blade he wore at his hip. "You go too far!" Alexander disagreed. "You were an imperial hero after the war, and a man never gets too old for some things, I can testify to that, if you wanted another son all you had to do was put a ring on the finger of one of the many woman throwing themselves at you." This apparently went even farther.

"That is a wonderful suggestion Alexander, for he sake of my house I'd be dishonoring the memory of my dead son and his mother. I'd just as soon the McDohl line die out with me. Such things must be easy for you to say you've never had a son, what gives you the right to argue with me over how I acted as a parent?"

Alexander's yellow eyes bore deep into Teo's brown ones. "I have two sons Teo McDohl. One of them is named James Firecat you might remember him, about yay high..." Alexander measured out James' five foot and little else with his right hand before continuing. "The other is named Cal Wright you might remember him by his gun.

Even though when I first met him Mirri was a firm fang on James' neck, he was still a young nay-kobold a drift in a world of those much older and much wiser then him, he needed a father to guide him through the hard choices that life forces upon all of us who seek to do great things.

Cal is the youngest of us by far, and in leaving in Harmonia, in seeking to be far more then simply a memeber of the Howling Voice Guild, he needed a father to teach him the things that no man can learn in Harmonia no matter how well studied they were. He needed a father who would guide him in how to properly wield the surplus of power he now possessed, left to his own devices he would have doubtlessly become a petty tyrant.

But this goes beyond fatherhood, rather simple strategy should have been your guide. He was seven years old Teo, plenty old enough to see the realities of the battlefield, after all you are an imperial general, did you think you could have hid the horrors of your occupation from him forever?"

Teo's face transformed itself into an ugly sneer. "If my son was still alive then I would no longer be a general." Alexander's face transformed itself into a knowing smirk in response to his imperial counterparts anger. "Don't sell me that bullshit Teo, Florence has all the fertilizer she needs at the moment. We are both men who refuse to allow our bodies to rest.

Even if Tir was still alive you would still be the greatest of Barbarossa's six favorite generals and you'd be teaching your son how to be a solider, because you are a solider loyal to Emperor Barbarossa.

The fact that you placed that loyalty to your Emperor above your loyalty to your son was made quite evident by your decision to fight rather then to look after a boy who's mother died giving birth to him." "If it hadn't been for you Alexander I might listen to your words, but what do I have to live for, why do I have to care about weather it's Windy or Emperor Barbarossa who controls the Scarlet Moon Empire?

I will defend it to its last either way. The McDohl line dies with me, one way or another the Scarlet Moon Empire will outlive it." Alexander's entire body began to glisten slightly, a few small silver sparks shooting out here and there for a few moments. "You are correct Teo, but both of you and the Scarlet Moon Empire are headed for a much earlier grave than you expect.

I truly can not believe how far you have fallen. You're nothing but a selfish fool if you believe that simply because you have no stake in the future you can ignore it. Every single being capable of thought should strive to make the world a better place, regardless of wether or not we live to see it. Our respect and hopes for those who come is reason we don't piss in rivers just because we feel like it.

Of course I have the added incentive of being quite sure that I'm going to live long enough to see the future, and the future's future, and the future after that. If a man turns his back on the future though, for any reason, then there is only word that could possibly describe him, coward."

The blade at Teo's hip came lose faster then Milich Oppenhiemer or Kwanda Rosman could believe. But hardly faster then Alexander Diamondclaw had been expecting and Masamune came free in time to met it. "So it's true that Barbarossa's gave you the sword which bares the Sovereign Rune.. I wonder it is as powerful as the stories tell." Alexander jumped backwards and lashed out with a quick kick that knocked over the oar bearing the white flag he'd brought with him.

--

"Alex gave the signal, I'll set up for the shot." A boat even smaller then the one that had taken Alexander Diamondclaw ashore to meet with Teo McDohl and was currently resting in the water not far from shore, completely obscured by a connivent fog that was resting across the banks of Lake Toran. With but a wave of her hands Mirri easily parted the fog that she had summoned in the first place, giving Cal a clear view all the way to the bank where General Teo stood. "A man messes with Boss and he messes with me, and nobody messes with me without regretting it, not when I was with the guild, and especially now..."

--

The bolt of lightening descended out of a clear sky and struck the top of Teo McDohl's helmet like a dart nailing the bullseye of a dartboard. The impact instantly created a great cloud of smoke, but as the cloud drifted away one thing became clear, though the ground at his feet had been scorched black, Teo McDohl was completely unharmed. Alexander did not look surprise by either the bolt of lightening or its somewhat pathetic results.

"So the Sovereign Rune makes someone immune to the effects of all magic, even that created by other True Runes. Teo that makes one violation of the flag of truce each, I suggest we leave those numbers as they stand." Teo slowly sheathed Prakk and nodded. "Yes I suppose we should."

Alexander turned his attention back to the boat, grabbed the oar that he had knocked down with one hand motioning to Oppenheimer and Kwanda with the other. "You heard him men, he has nothing else to say to us." The two nodded and silently climbed back into the boat while Alexander pushed it into the Lake and then jumped back in. Before he began to row again however he shouted a few last words to Teo McDohl.

"A warning and a lesson Teo! Inside three days I'll set foot on the mainland of the Scarlet Moon Empire again, and when I do, I'll bring two things with me. My army, and a weapon capable of making your Armored Calvary look as outdated as ass drawn chariots. Consider very carefully what you do with Prakk, as long as you have it you have some measure of protection against me, but if Barbarossa had it he would be proof against all of Windy's magical tricks.

As for the lesson, it is the same one I told Odessa Silverberg: the past lays forever as a nightmare upon the present. I hope you plan to wake up soon before you end up dieing in your sleep."

--

No sooner had Alexander put foot on his castle in the middle of Lake Toran then Florence saluted him. "You were right, the map to the secret factory on Odessa's earing was spot on. The people there were still working away hammer and tongs on them when we arrived. We've got enough firespears and oil for one shot at your plan."

Alexander nodded solemnly. "To paraphrase Cal, one shot is all we'll need. We can't actually have the men test fire the weapons, but set up dummy ones and do our best to replicate the situation. We'll need to find the best we can, can't afford to have any of our soldiers firing to soon or righting in fright. I think blindfolds might be especially useful for helping us make it seem as real as possible. On second thought I might want to blindfold my own men when we do the real thing as well, they can't be afraid of what they can't see."

Florence relaxed and chuckled. "That may be true, but you'll have a hard time getting the men to wear them. It shouldn't take us more than two days to have separated the wheat from the chaff of the Silver Wolf Arm." Alexander clenched his hands into fists. "Excellent, then in three days we deploy the armada! I do believe this situation calls for some maniacal laughter, Florence would you mind setting me up?" "You're insane." Florence spoke the two words in an absolutely emotionless monotone, but it was apparently enough for Alexander. "Oh really? Or am I simply more brilliant than your meager mind can comprehend? MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

--

For a short while Alexander had let Teo think that his strategy of frightening the Silver Wolf Army into submission was working, not setting foot on the continent east of the fortress that Teo had made no move to take back for the Scarlet Moon Empire. During that time, his men had been busy building boats under the direction of Cal and any of the carpenters or fishermen who Alexander had at hand. They had indeed created what had to be the largest fleet of ships ever created for the sole purpose of ferrying men across a lake.

That crudely created patchwork gathering of ships (no two exactly alike) would be preform the important task of taking around seven thousand members of the Silver Wolf Army across Lake Turan in one single trip. Alexander had selected a place for them to land where they could all disembark with as much speed as possible.

Of course Teo and every member of his Armored Calvary would have to be blind in both eyes not to see what was going on, but Alexander didn't doubt that he would have enough times. After all, one thing he had learned form watching James' social interactions was that people tended to be patronizingly kind when confronted with someone who to all appearances was completely out of their mind.

--

Teo watched men disembarking from the ships at such distance that they seemed to be ants. "Alexander has gone insane with his own brilliance. Yes he moves more men then I had expected, but our numbers appear to be roughly equal." It did not need to be said that no infantry force had ever been able to defeat a calvary one when they were of close to equivalent strength, let alone Teo McDohl's Armored Calvary. "Should we sound the order to attack now? We can doubtlessly grind them underneath our feet without even trying." Teo shook his head.

"Not yet Alen." Teo's other aid twitched his eyebrows. "Are you sure that is wise Lord McDohl?" Teo's fingers tapped at the sword sheath he was wearing. "Alen and Grenseal you are both too much on edge. Why settle for only a fraction of the force Alexander has brought with him when we could have the entire thing? We will let his ships unload and his move up the beach slightly, then we will charge down break his line, rout his men, and destroy each and every one of them in detail.

Alexander and his fellow Prophets will go down as will the elite of his army, with them done for this revolution will become nothing but a run down bunch of malcontents on a castle in the middle of a lake. We must be sure that this ends now, for close to a quarter of a year no force within the Scarlet Moon Empire has been able to bring these mercenaries to task, I can imagine nothing more shameful, can you?"

--

"You sure this will work?" Cal handed the metal tube with a small opening on one side and a larger one on the other to his commander with a smile. "Bet whatever is left of my soul on it. Just shout into it and not only Teo, but his entire army will hear." Alexander raised the tube to his lips and shouted to the Armored Calvary which was in position and ready to charge at a moments notice. "General Teo McDohl, surrender yourself and your Armored Calvary now and we will grant you parol. If you attack us however, you will face complete and utter annihilation!"

For an answer, the Armored Calvary charged. Alexander dropped the tube to the ground, and gripped his weapon, for the first time in a great while he was going into battle armed with something other than Masamune. The sword was still strapped to his back, but both of his hands were filled with a firespear just like every other memeber of the Silver Wolf Army present. He stood in the very middle of the line his men had formed and saw to his approval that Teo was headed straight for him. "Good, good, I want to be able to lay claim to your death honestly Teo, you disserve to 'live' on as one of those people I mention to make people understand just why no one in the right mind crosses me. Hold steady everyone!"

The Silver Wolf Army stood steady shoulder to shoulder, firespears culched to their chests. They were motionless as they watched the Armored Calvary approach a felt the ground shake beneath their feet.

The Arrmored Calvary drew closer with every heart beat, hundred yards, a hundred feet, fifty feet, conventional wisdom said nothing could stop them now. "Fire!" Conventional wisdom was wrong.

--

Teo's Armored Calvary was a seven thousand men strong that had won nearly a hundred victories. Their mounts had been bread for battle from birth, their heavy armor could turn just about all ordinary weapons, protected them from arrows, and they moved too fast for magic, the bane of heavy infantry to be easily employed against them.

Many of those men were veterans of the War of Succession, they had followed Teo McDohl to countless victories and had every intention of following him to another. They saw their foes, they saw Teo McDohl's 100th victory before them, and then in the blink of an eye, it was taken away.

Just as they were about to close and decimate the rabble before them, the strange tubes that were the only weapons their opponents carried let lose with a torrent of flame. Their mounts reared up on their hinds legs to try to avoid the stream of fire, but it did no good.

Their legs were fried in seconds and they fell back to the ground. Only those mounts fronts legs now worked leaving the lizard like creatures with no choice but to crawl forward. No choice but to move slowly towards the very flames that were killing them.

Their heavy armor provided them no protection against this attack, it melted or melded onto their bodies causing men to let lose with screams of unimaginable pain. But it was quickly passing pain, neither the flesh of their mounts or the riders themselves was meant to endure rolling flames lapping over them for second after second, in fact four or five seconds proved more then enough.

The Armored Calvary used to routing their foes with only a few scratches in return, had been a dealt a defeat more decimating then any they ever handed out. Not one man escaped that holocaust of flames, not man managed to get close enough to wield his lance effectively against the enemy. The firespear had pierced the heart of the Armored Calvary and killed it out right before it could even fully comprehend its fate.

All that was left of them was a sight and stench so gruesome that many members of the Silver Wolf Arm quickly undid their firespears and fell to the ground to wretch in horror at the destruction they had wrought even if it had been to men who had intended to kill them. Alexander undid his firespear and cast it to the ground. He had seen the look in Teo McDohl's face as his wall of metal eroded away before Alexander's wave of flame.

Alexander walked forward slowly, Teo's shinning armor had been scorched black, and contorted in unnatural ways by the heat that had claimed its owners life. But it was not the body that Alexander was interested in, it was the blade. Teo's sword was now only half as long as it had used to be, the top half having been melted off by the flames. Alexander picked it up, winched slightly at the heat he could feel through his gloves and then examined it.

The examination only told him what he had known at first sight, no blade with a True Rune in it could have been harmed by an attack as comparably tame as this one. "Loyal to the last Teo, that is your sin. When the thing you were loyal to proved no longer worthy of your loyalty you did not abandon it. You were a great man, but when the world took it all away from you, you let it do just that and made no attempt to take it back. Perhaps the cruelest fate in the world is to be left with power and status, but nothing to protect with it.

Few have been the men who have fought so gallantly for a cause so despicable as yours. May those with a wisdom greater than my own, if they exist, determine what to make of you." Then he dropped the half melted sword and turned back to his own men. "Before we can celebrate this victory we must be about burring these fallen foes.

We should dig the graves first before we worry about moving them, I doubt their bodies will be safe to touch for a while." Thus ended Teo McDohl's Armored Calvary once said to have revolutionized the battlefield, exterminated by the firespear, another revolutionary addition to man's power to kill other men.

FN: In this chapter we see what exactly happened to Teo's son, that's right I do exactly have a plan for what happened to the person who should have been the center of the revolution, I'm not just making this up as I go along, or so I tell myself.


	12. Chapter 12

FN: Once again, thanks to Reiko for another review, thanks for all of you for putting up with me taking so long to update, but I was busy with work and other stuff. If you've maanged to get this far in the story then you might enjoy another story that I've just started posting under this alias at ff.ne "The Immortal Gunman" it's a Final Fantasy Seven fic, if that sounds like fun just click on my name and you shouldn't have any trouble finding it.

Ronin Trip

Book one: For want of a Rune

Chapter twelve: Infinite potential.

Word spreads fast when it is important, though there is a fine line between "word" and the truth. Some people claimed that Alexander Diamondclaw had killed Lord Teo McDohl in a personal duel. Others said that he summoned up a huge fleet of dragons who's breaths had transformed an entire stretch of beach into shinning glass. Still others said that he had killed him at over a hundred paces with nothing more than a single glance.

Still others said that Alexander had killed Teo with a weapon that belched up the fires of hell itself, and dragged the entire Armored Calvary down to the underworld. That Teo had somehow survived and had sworn vengeance. But some things were agreed upon, Alexander Diamondclaw and the Silver Wolf Army had dealt the empire a devastating blow, the Armored Calvery was gone.

And in the wake of this defeat over the next month, a few sparks gave birth to a true conflagration. Tiny little rebellions came into being everywhere, and from his castle a mercenary general watched with amusement and joy. "Not that long ago Emperor Barbarossa made the horrific mistake of screwing with the Prophets of Destruction, and in turn we've been screwing with him ever since. Mathiu, as of this moment what are our operational choices?"

Mathiu looked at the map and the pins stuck into it for a moment. "Reports says that the imperial forces have completely pulled out of the Lomar region to the south. There was never even a general there to start with, so they're evidently consolidating their forces to try and put out some hot spots. If the reports are accurate, we should be able to simply walk into the region, raise our flag, and collect some new recruits."

Alexander checked the map and nodded. "It's not exactly ground breaking, but simplicity has a brilliance all its own at times. Before we make a move on either of the three remaining generals we should rally as many men to our banner as possible." Cal stuck his head into the room looked at the map and swore. "Dam it Boss, do we have to do this?"

Alexander look askance at Cal. "Have I ever changed my plans because you've objected to them? That said, why do you object to this one?" Cal's stamped his booted feet on the ground as he responded. "Why do you think? Every time we go on a mission that's suppose to be a walk in the park, it turns out to be a march through hell. The marches through hell that you send us on though do usually turn out to be fairly pleasant though, probably because most demons know better then to mess with us. So it all sort of evens out, but trust me on this Boss, things are going to go downhill inside a week.

--

Inside a week the Prophets of Destruction were making themselves at home in an inn in the Warrior's Village, which was at the center of the Lomar region, unaware that they'd very soon have a run in with a most unwelcome guest.

James reached over and grabbed a couple of the sheets and pulled them his way. "Sorry Mirri, but I always feel a little cold afterwards." Mirri didn't object, James usually ended up with the lion share of the blankets, sheets, or whatever was available to the two.

This was in part because Mirri's body was typically something close to stone cold and part because the weather never seemed to bother her. "It's okay, besides you were even more wonderful than usual, especially your tail. It's true what they say, once you've had feline it's the taste for which your always ready to recline..." James let lose with his best attempt at a growl. It was not the worlds mightiest growl, in fact it was probably one of the least, sounding rather like "merrroooowwwwllll!" to tell the truth.

James wrapped the blanket around himself shivering slightly and then looked over and then slowly out of the bed tugging the sheets around him as he did. "Did you open the window? Because I can't remember doing it." Mirri shook her head and James walked over to the said window with every intention of closing it.

However as he did so, a black bat came fluttering in just a few moments before the window slammed shut. James took one look at the rodent and sighed. "Could you toss me a pillow?" Mirri threw one to James who took a quick swing at the bat. The bat was knocked through the air and slammed into one of the room's walls. James then tossed the pillow back to Mirri and began to sleepily head back towards the bed.

Just as he was starting to pull himself back under the covers a voice like the closing of a casket echoed through the room. "You will pay for that." James rolled over in the bed and took a look at the person who had decided to join them. He was a tallish man with black hair, a very noticeable scar on his forehead and red eyes. He just about screamed vampire just about as loudly as you possibly could, and his black outfit was noticeably rumpled. Most likely due to the blow that James had dealt to him a few seconds ago.

"No one offends my honor and gets away with it!" James fluffed his pillow, and buried his face in it. "Mirri can you take this one? I'm really tired from, well I don't have to tell you do I?" Mirri rolled out of her side of the bed and let out a loud sigh.

"Neclord, do you seriously think it was a good idea to flap your way into a room belonging to two people sworn to kill?" James took advantage of the fact that he was now alone in the bed to guiltlessly take all the blankets for himself. "I'm too tired to fulfil my destiny tonight so after you cut off his limbs leave his torso for me to decapitate okay?" Mirri nodded and reached over to ruffle James' hair and grab one of his daggers from the numerous infolds of his coat.

Neclord growled back at Mirri. "Do you truly believe that you stand any chance against me brat? I defeated you with ease centuries ago and I will do so again tonight!" Even as he laid in bed James kept one eye open so that he could bare witness to what was going on, thus he could see Mirri sniff the air slightly before answering. "Why don't you put your fangs where your mouth is?"

In the blink of an eye, The two hurled themselves at each other. James pulled the sheets of his eyes and closed them trying to mentally drown out the sounds of countless acts of carnage occurring not very far at all from him. Eventually when they died out, James pull his coverings back down.

Mirri was still standing over him holding a bloody dagger, but he could see that she had a few wounds of her own to show for it.. Neclord spoke first. "It would appear that given we both posses True Runes that this is something of a stalemate." Mirri snarled her answer back. "Oh quitting that easily are you? What's the matter? Gonna bleed, gonna squirt some, guess your a big Noseferatu now huh?"

Neclord took one step backwards, smashed the window he'd entered through and in a few moments all that was left of him was black mist rapidly seeping out the window.

--

"So now we're dealing with a vampire who is stronger than you?" "I told you this would wind up being complicated Boss." Alexander and Mirri both shot irritated glares a Cal before Mirri continuned her explanation. "He's not more powerful than me, he's powerful in different ways. I'm faster, stronger, smarter, you know all important things. He's more pretentious, idiotic, and unfortunately, he can turn to shadow faster than me. WAY faster then me, so fast that he's practically invulnerable.

As long as he has the Blue Moon Rune he stole from Sierra, any sort of attack, physical or magical will most likely just pass right through him. If we're going to drive a metaphorical stake through his equal metaphorical heart, we'll need a sword that can cut shadow. Not just cut through shadow, but literally cut shadow." Cal scratched his chin. "Dash it all, I just found a sword of cutting shadows last week and I though to myself 'when the hell am I going to use this' and just pitched into a river!"

Devi very slowly brought her index and middle finger together. "Cal, there's an eleven saying regarding situations like this, and it is always delivered in exactly this manner." Devi coughed for a moment before speaking in an extremely crotchety tone of voice. "MAGIC MUST DEFEAT MAGIC!" With those words she brought her index and middle fingers down hard on Cal's forehead. Cal for his part rubbed his newest wound and sighed. "I could have done without that lesson."

Devi just went on speaking as if she hadn't even heard him. "Remember the following Cal. there are twenty seven True Runes. Subtract the five elemental runes, and your left with twenty two. Each of the non-elemental runes has a twin, and when those twins are present together, their effects more or less even out. So Neclord's Blue Moon Rune, must be vulnerable to the effects of some other True Rune. Clearly it is not any of the six we have, so we'll simply have to go looking for another. Remember not to let your senses be distracted by the five gathered around you or the Blue Moon." "Yeah like I need to be reminded of that.."

Cal said the words snarkily but after they left his lips he closed them along with his eyes. The six stood there in silence, for about a minuet at least until James's eyes and mouth opened one right after the other. "Got it! It's about half a days walk to the east for a normal person, so we can probably do it about a third to half of that."

Cal's own eyes opened a moment later. "Way to blow my concentration fuzz face. I was getting the same reading you did by the way thought I was aware of it about ten seconds before you started shouting. Remember this was suppose to be about us flexing our mental muscles, if it had been a race I wouldn't have bothered, Boss has a nose like a wolf when it comes to sniffing those things out.

Don't give me dirty looks, I do my best metaphorical thinking when I'm not worrying about how I may end up fighting a vampire who I can' harm in any way shape or form." "But if we didn't tell each other when we thought the next closest True Rune was, we could have found ourselves just standing here all day!" For all its simplicity it was a hard statment to argue against.

--

The monk like so many others across Suikoden was bald, wore a saffron robe, and as luck would have it, was tending a garden outside the inner monastery itself when the Prophets of Destruction approached. "There is a great and powerful treasure here, and we believe that it might of considerable use to us." The monk adjusted his rake and leaned on it as he examined the six new arrivals. "We have no great treasure here, only a powerful weapon. But like any other weapon there is a time and a place for using it. What do you believe it shall do?"

Alexander had only a touch more patience for monks then he did for bureaucrats, monks might be annoying to talk to, but it wasn't as if they insisted on interfering with every single aspect of your life. "Hopefully it will let us destroy a vampire." The monk picked up he rake and balanced it across his right hand and left shoulder. "Ahh, then you have come to the right place. We have just such a weapon though retrieving it may be anything but pleasant. Follow me if you will."

The words 'walk through hell' were quickly hissed from between Cal's lips as the monk lead them around the back of the monastery towards what looked like a simple red gate placed against an otherwise unmarred wall of natural rock. "The way to that which you seek is through here, and sadly I will not be able to lead you any further. You will each have to make your own ways through the past if you wish to find what you presently desire."

Alexander wondered what kind of karmic punishment he would receive for grabbing this monk around the throat and shaking him till he agreed to talk in something other than metaphors. But he decided not to risk it, after all exactly what horrors could this cave possibly hold for them?

--

The mist that had been swirling around the ground suddenly vanished and Cal found himself alone and looking at row after row of, well some kind of plant, he'd always been a city kid, it was Florence who could tell one kind of plant from another with her eyes closed. "Are you one of the new overseers?" A young boy, who couldn't have been much older then seven brushed aside some of the plants and stepped into view.

He had a mass of unkempt blond hair and wide blue eyes. Cal shook his head, as he looked at the kid, there was something in those eyes, he'd seen it before if only he could place it. "No, I'm just passing through." The kid looked at his gun and whistled. "Are you a noble? I wouldn't think that anyone else would be able to go whoever they wanted to."

Cal smirked down at the kid. "Life isn't worth living if you can't go wherever the hell you want." The kid nodded slowly as he looked around and apparently realized for the first time they were alone. "I'd like to go places, I don't care where so long as it is some place other than here, can I come with you?"

Cal reached down and ruffled the child's hair for a moment. "The places that I go, would probably be dangerous for you. Why don't you go run home to your parents?" The kid looked to the ground and growled slightly. "My parents are dead, if I don't get out of here then I'll die as well. That's what happens out here, they work us to death." Cal whistled in amazement, he had seen some weird things in his life, but this was right up there. "You're one weird little kid aren't you?" The kid shrugged helplessly. "It's the truth, do you want me to lie to you?"

Cal sighed as he took another look a the child. "Okay then, tell you what: I don't have any clue where we are. But if it would make you feel better, you can come with me, though I doubt Boss is going to take very well to you, odds are he's going to insist we hand you off to the first semi-loving family we can find. But from what you've said that's probably a better set up then the one you've currently got." The young child had to jog to keep up with Cal, but it didn't seem to bother him very much.

--

"Are you one of the Baron's new servants?" James looked down at the young elf dressed only in simple brown robes. "Nope, I'm a free cat, been that way since birth." The elf looked and him and pouted. "It's not fair. They say we have to work for them because we're not human, but it's only my ears that really say I'm not human. I may have my ears but you have your ears..." "My ears, my tails, my paws, my jaws, and my fur.

Yeah I've heard the entire spiel before. But let me pose a question to you. Which gets more done, getting mad at me because I was born free, or getting mad at the person who's forcing you to work for him?" The young elf contorted her face in deep thought for a moment and then had her answer. "It probably does more good to get angry at him. But I can't do anything on my own. Could you help me?" "Sure thing!"

James at once bent down and lifted the elf up to his shoulders causing her to let out a cry of surprise. "What are you doing?" James made sure to keep his arms on the elf since she didn't seem about to commit to keeping her hands on him. "Haven't you ever had someone give you a kitty back ride before?" The young elf's voice quavered, evidently quite aware of how comparatively high up she was. "No..."

James sighed and kept his grip firm. "Don't worry about it, just hold onto my mane, that's a small extra ruff of fur I've got around my neck. You can tug on it to your hears desire and I won't feel much of anything." Very slowly he felt a pair of small hands seize clumps of his fur, and a tiny voice whisper a single word in his ears. "Thanks..."

James gave a jaunty bounce of his shoulders, careful not to make it so powerful as to in any way disconvience his passenger. "Don't worry about it, I mean I'm, comparatively big and your small, I'm just doing my part."

--

"Your one like me aren't you?" Alexander Diamondclaw looked down at the small red furred nay-kobold cub. "Not really, I'm a human." The nay-kobold rolled on his side and ran his toung along the base of his tail before responding. "Not like that. My parents tell me that when I grow up I'm going to get a True Rune of my very own, one of twenty seven True Runes, that makes me really lucky doesn't it?"

Alexander looked at his right hand and then back at the cub. "That depends on more things than most people can count. Some people ruin their lives by melding True Runes to their flesh, some use their True Runes to ruin the lives of other peoples, but there are those who do manage live rather well with their runes." It was as if the cub had known what was underneath his glove, but when he looked again, Alexander's gloves had suddenly vanished revealing the yellow moon on the back of his right hand.

Without even thinking he shifted his right hand so as to hold his right hand palm out toward the nay-kobold, hiding the symbol.. "Did your parents give you your True Rune?" Alexander shook his head sadly. "No, the way I first found out that I'd be bearing a True Rune was when it melded with my body."

The nay-kobold's face and, whiskers and ears all fell in disappointment. "That's really too bad. If I could find my dad I'd love to introduce you to him. He's a great guy, don't let the fact that' he's got about two dozen scars scare you." Alexander shook his head slowly. "When a man, when a nay-kobold, whenever anyone has a great many scars on their body it either says that they love to or hate to fight."

The cub licked a paw and used it to pad down a section of his hair that was standing up, though he didn't have much success at forcing it down. "Wow, that's really weird, my dad says the exact same thing... why do you say it?" Alexander lazily traced a finger across his face. "Once upon a time I had a great many scars myself." "Did you get them from hating to fight or loving to?" "Tell you what, I'll let you know as soon as I find out myself, sound fair?" The young nay-kobold thrust forward his tiny left paw into Alexander's large right hand. "More than!"

--

"Your a noble like me aren't you?" Mirri looked down a the young girl in the well designed dress. "More or less. Why do you ask?" The girl brushed an errant stand of blond hair of out of her blue eyes. "I just wanted to know weather or not its true what they say. I want to be able to marry a knight when I grow up! Did you marry a knight who swept you off your feet after ridding up on a great white stallion?"

Mirri fought down her initial desire to simply throw back her head and laugh. "Not exactly. But I did fall mutual in love with someone who was gallant, noble, and kind, there are plenty of women who have done a lot worse then I that." The girl just sighed as she looked around the stone castle walls that surrounded them.

"I'm glad that you're happy, but all the same I still hope I get to marry a knight. I mean that's what we're suppose to grow up to do isn't it?" Mirri made sure to chose her words carefully before she responded. "You can grow up to do whatever you want to do, that's the way things are."

--

"Do you know how lucky you are?" Florence looked at the young boy with dirty blond hair. "For what?" The boy touched a hand to his temple, and then to the side of his face level with his eyes. "For this and these. You're hair is pure blond and your eyes are blue, and the way you dress, you must be a first class citizen. I'm only a second." Florence staired in surprise at the child.

"If you want to have pure blond hair..." The child cut her off at once. "I guess your not from around here then. A lady like you wouldn't want to see what would happen if they catch a kid like me with hair that looks like yours until it starts to rain and then it looks like mine again. At least at the moment my eyes are decently blue, they catch me faking blond and if I survive I can guarantee you that both of my eyes will be black for a long while."

Florence offered a hand to the child. "I don't know where we are, but I can promise you that we don't have to stay here. We have the power to make the world a better place, that's something I've always believed." He looked around and then sighed.

"They say I do a good job, I bow my head with respect to the elders, I study hard, I learn how to shoot, clean, and build a gun, I do everything right and I can go far in the Howling Voice Guild. But why should I have to? Why should I have to work hard to get what other people have just given to them? I don't want to stay any place like that, I'll be glad to go with you."

--

"It must be nice." Devi turned her attention to the young girl who had spoken at her. She had dark brown hair that was parted by a streak of white and green eyes. "What must be nice?" The girl's eyes were focused quite intently on Devi's ears. "To be an elf. I'm only a human, I won't live very long, but I hear that elves can live for hundred of years."

Devi sighed as she looked at the girl. "True, but even we only live for so long, and then in the end we go down beneath death's scythe just like everyone else." The girl sighed helplessly. "That's the horrible thing about it. It doesn't matter how rich you are or how important your family is, sooner or later you die, and then what? Elves are suppose to be more spiritual, wiser than we humans are. Do you know what happens to us after we die?"

"I don't, but why are you worried about it, you've still got several decades ahead of you?" The young girl looked at her hands and then back at Devi. "Commoners might be able to get away with not looking beyond their noses, but to be a noble we have to look farther. To me that means looking far enough ahead to see and plan for my own death."

Devi smiled sweetly at the human child. "There is an elfin saying that I think would be appropriate for this situation, you have 'lost the forest for the trees.' If you look too far ahead then you will never be able to see the things that are directly in front of you. That is a failing I have witnessed far too many elves commit.

Even if all there is after death is a great black abyss, it does you no good to spend every single hour of every single day you have starring into that abyss, in fact it wastes whatever time you do have." The girl looked at her hands for a moment then nodded. "I guess you're right. But still, I wish that there was some way of escaping death, some way of transmuting raw gold into life. Yes you can hire physicians and doctors and healers but they serve only to prolong life not avoid death. It is the utter incapability of it that bothers me.

As a child I must do what my parents say, and then as a wife as I must do what my husband says, and then as a widow I must do what death says. If after my death is the only time I have myself, there must be some way of making use of it." "You set your sights very high young one." "When I grow up I will bear the title of 'Countess', to be worthy of that title I mus set my sights higher then those who live below me."

--

"Hello Alexander Diamondclaw, it's been a while since I last saw you!" Alexander glared at the man, he was dressed in full body black platemail with a visor that had not one single hole in it across his face leaving how exactly he could seeing quite up to question.

It was possible however to see a few strands of snow white hair falling coming out from underneath his helmet. Alexander pulled his hand free from the young nay-kobold's grip so that he could place both of his hands where they needed to be, on Masamune's hilt. "Yuber, what the hell are you doing here?" Alexander didn't have to see his foes face to know that he was smirking. "The better question would be when are you doing here Alexander? Your in my home away from home now Wolf Fucker, lost in the mists of time.

I may have never won before, but do you think you can protect yourself and your cub from me?" The small red furred nay-kobold began to back up away from Yuber. "If you do anything to me, my dad is going to make you really sorry!" Yuber's right hand pulled a longsword from the sheath he wore on his hip. "Now isn't that just so cute it makes you want to vomit up your own rotted teeth? I wounder, what exactly will happen if I kill him now?

Because he's suppose to grow older, but if I kill him before he can, then I just might create a time paradox where the future that was meant to be and the future that must be collide head on and destroy the entire universe. Of course the destruction might be rather localized and limited to our own galaxy, but believe me I've got my fingers crossed for a full on disintegration all across the board!"

His left hand came out holding a knife with incredible speed, and hurled it at the young nay-kobold. Masamune came free from Alexander's sheath and positioned itself between the knife and its target in time to cause the thrown weapon to harmlessly bounce off of the blade it ended up striking. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to kill either of us." Yuber just shrugged beneath his heavy armor. "So what? I failed that time, I have all the time in the world to try till I succeed, you know that we're too closely matched for you to defeat me while you have to worry about looking after someone who can't defend themselves."

Before Alexander could respond a loud voice echoed from behind Yuber. "Deamon, get thee behind me!" Three blindingly bright rings of light suddenly dropped around Yuber who immediately tried to force his way through them but throwing his armored body against the rings caused him to simply bounce off of them. Since his wrath having no effects on the 'bars' of his prison he instead turned it on the one who had chained him.

"Damn you, the plan you backstabbing bastard, the plan! What happened to a place for everything and everything in its place!" A young man with blond hair and blue eyes in white robes stepped forward impudently giving Yuber a perfect view of his back. "You need to leave this place, now, Yuber may not be the only being in the world who has the power to play with the flow of time, but I can only hold him for so long."

Yuber let lose with another primal growl as he threw himself at the rings, but once again his efforts went unrewarded.. Alexander staired at the man who held a staff in his hands, the silver haired general's lower jaw hanging limp, for one of the few times in his life, Alexander Diamondclaw was flabbergasted. Very slowly he managed to ease out a few stuttered words. "How do you... how can you...?" The man in white calmly waved his hands at the transparent mist surrounding them. "I am like everything here except this deamon, what once was but no longer is.

Go brother, we do not have time to talk this out. Take what is yours and run, you've nearly reached the prize." Alexander nodded and without further ado he returned his Masamune to its sheath and scooped up the young nay-kobold with both of his hand, though his sword had weighed considerably more then this living breathing being they now held. Then Alexander took off at a full fledged run through the mist having no idea where he was going, only sure that he was going to get very soon.

--

The Prophets of Destruction approached the object form six different directions. The mist surrounding them faded away as the did the children they had brought with them, and the walls cave that they had entered became nothing more then ordinary rock. Before them however remained something quite unordinary. It was a large black sword that appeared to have a face carved into the pommel, and in floated in midair above white pedestal.

"Well I suppose this is the sword which can cut shadows that we've been looking for. I doubt it will be too difficult for me to take down Neclord armed with it." Alexander reached out for the sword, but it levitated further upwards out of his grasp. /I was not made to be wielded by you!\ Cal took a very large step away from the pedestal. "Holy crap, the sword talks!" The sword twisted about slightly and the face in the pommel seemed to be frowning directly at him.

/The Star Dragon Sword does not talk, I am the Night Rune and I talk. Instruct your meat puppet properly in the difference Lightening." Small blue sparks began to shoot from Cal's suddenly clenched fist. "Meat puppet?" Cooler heads prevailed before Cal decided to blast the sword. "Why exactly won't you allow me to wield you?" The sword twisted about and lowered itself so that the face could look Alexander eye to eye. /I am a True Rune just like you Ookami, is it too much to ask that I only allow myself to serve a hand of my chosing?\

Alexander crossed his arms making it quite clear that he wasn't about to make another grab for the sword. "If you won't allow me to wield you, then are there any among my command who you would? We have a powerful vampire to slay and apparently you're the only thing that can do it." The sword began to descend slightly. /Let me see.\ It began to swing around, faster, and faster, and faster, and faster.

Then just as it had become little more than a blur, the blade plummeted towards the ground to burry itself in few inches in the rock, right at James Firecat's feet. /Trickster, I will allow your hand to guide me to the vampire's throat.\ Cal still upset from his dressing down at the 'hands' of an inanimate object fumed with disapproval. "What the hell? Boss is the best swordsman in all of Suikoden and you turn up your handle at the idea of letting him touch you, then decide to let James do it? I've never seen him use a blade longer then my..."

/Lightening if you do not silence your meat puppet then very shortly you shall need to find a new one. It should not be too much of a burden for you considering what a short time ago you came before me in possession of a different one.\ Cal seemed to be ready to make the sword put its money where it's hilt was, but Alexander stopped him with a look.

"I ran into Yuber again, but he was gunning for James. That's not his usual operating procedure. The only reason he'd ever try to go for someone's throat other than my own given the chance would be if is master ordered him to. Considering that I can easily imagining him working for Windy, and Neclord as well, it's easy to imagine her not wanting James alive exactly because this sword wants him to use it. Choosing who wields them has always been the propagative of the True Runes, and I'm not about to try and revoke it now.

So if this one wants James, James will be the one holding it, you can handle that can't you?" /Well said Ookami, just because one might be better suited to a particular act does not mean that they will be one chosen to preform it.\ James placed his hands on the Star Dragon Swords hilt and yanked it from the ground. "Yeah. Let's go slay a vampire..."

FN: There is A LOT of stuff in this chapter that will only make sense in time. But here's what I feel is worth saying just to fill in a few holes. James was told that he'd do two things when he grew up, weild a True Rune, and kill the worlds most dangerous vampire. As for the rest of this chapter you can either figure it out yourself or just sit back and enjoy the ride.


	13. Chapter 13

Ronin Trip

Book one: For want of a rune

AN: Now that I've finally got a review on my last chapter (thanks to Reiko again) not to mention more then two hits on it I think its about time I got around to posting the next one.

Chapter thirteen: What dwells within the blood.

Neclord drew his pale fingers from the organ he had been playing a dirge upon. Unlike most of those who bore True Runes he did not wear gloves, he had no reason to hide his power after all, as a vampire with a True Rune he was all but invincible. "So kitten you are good natured enough to deliver yourself to me? Such a shame, I would have rather enjoyed the thrill of hunting you down."

James Firecat glared back at Neclord from across the room as he took the last step from the stairs leading upwards onto the final level of the castle. There was something different James today, for one thing his normally open jacket has been buttoned from top to bottom.

But the greatest change was in his eyes. Normally they were a calm serene ocean of blue, unperturbable, unchanging, unbothered by pathetic things like ships sailing across it or sinking beneath it. Now however, now the ocean in those eyes was in the grip of a most unusual weather pattern. It had completely frozen, and there was not one single crack in its icy surface.

"I'm not a kitten any more Neclord, and I didn't come here to die, I came here to end you." Neclord stood up from the bench he had been sitting at. "You have had countless years to try and face me kitten, but you have kept your distance. Do you now suddenly believe yourself in possession of power to unseat the king of the night?"

James remained perfectly calm as he stepped towards Neclord. "I stopped fearing you a long time ago Neclord, I simply had bigger fish to fry. You see I'm a very good person, much better than you ever were or could possibly be. It's very hard to make me hate, but thanks to you I've discovered I do it surprisingly well. I don't hate you for what you did to me of course, I've had worse countless times over, but what you did to Mirri.

My question to you is, if you don't fear me, why didn't you kill me a couple centuries ago?" Neclord, picked up the bench he had been sitting on with one hand. "There is only one being in this world, who I might have ever been said to fear, she who gave me this scar, and now her power is mine!

You were of such minuscule concern to me that I had truly forgotten of your existence until you showed up again!" James unslung a black sheath from his shoulders, and held it before him. "You may have managed to make yourself a No Life King, through your nefarious actions at the cost of a great many 'lives' of those older and wiser than you, but you are far from a ruler of all you lay your eyes upon. Witness the instrument of your reckoning."

James yanked the Star Dragon Sword from the sheath he had been given and held it before him. "Now then Neclord, why don't you bow your head to the true king of the night, isn't that what you've supposedly been telling people around here to do after all?"

Neclord growled and hurled the bench at James. It passed right through him however, and suddenly another James came up the stairs. "I thought so. The copies my Trickster Rune allows me to create have gotten a lot better over the years. Even your vampiric sense of smell, or ability to hear the heart beat can't let you tell the genuine artificial apart from the fakes."

The first James faded away but more James(i?) followed the second up the stairs until there were nine of them in the room. Neclord scoffed at the gathering of Firecats before him. "The simple fact remains that there is only one of you, and you have no chance of defeating me in my own home!" All nine James, scratched their chins for a moment and then raised their right hand (the second James still holding the Star Dragon Sword with his left hand) as an idea occurred to them.

"Well then, we'll just have to take this fight outside your home." The nine Firecats charged the vampire in unison. Neclord lashed out with his claws, and knocked aside the Star Dragon Sword, the wave of Nay-Kobolds continued onward and piledrived Neclord back through a stain glass window.

This left them both a great distance above the ground, but plummeting down towards it at increasing speed. In the process of delivering that pile drive all of the Firecats had complied into one single being who promptly jumped off of Neclord, barely avoiding his flashing claws as the Star Dragon Sword flew down to his hands.

Neclord righted himself though he remained in free fall just as much as James. "You realize that you've just doomed yourself don't you? DON'T YOU?" The frozen ocean was starting to develop cracks, and the way the wind blew upwards transformed James' face into a grotesque grin. "Why so serious Neclord?"

A pair of shadowy wings began to grow from the elder vampire's back, but no sooner had they become fully formed then James Firecat twister his body about, placing not his hands, but his feet upon the Star Dragon Sword. The blade displaying the same power it had beforehand, levitated upwards allowing James to slow his descent to keep up with Neclord. Without any sort of visual propulsion the blade shot at Neclord, who could only watch in surprise. James flipped about, dropped off of the Star Dragon Sword, grabbed its hilt with his hands in the traditional position of handling such a weapon, and swung with all his might.

Neclord was not nearly as manueverable in midair as he was on the ground, and James' blade bit cleanly through his right wing. Said wing reacted as if it was made of flesh rather than shadow, falling from Neclord's shoulder and was quickly burnt away to nothingness by the sunlight. Neclord began to fall once again, his one remaining wing flapping helplessly. "YOU MANGY FLEE BAG!"

James shifted about in midair as best he could avoiding Neclord's flailing limbs. "Poor little vampire, Mirri can fly with one wing, and carrying me at the same time!" Neclord reached into a sheath he wore at his hip and yanked out his own blade. "I'll teach you respect for your elders!" James adjusted himself as he managed to properly put his feet against the tower wall. He pumped his body in a most unnatural way and then he began to run down the stone wall.

Neclord duplicated the feat, and fairly soon the two were lashing back and forth at one another all along tower as they ran down it as if they passing across a horizontal plane instead of a vertical one. Neclord fought with the kind of proper duelling skill you'd expect from a nobleman, mixed with all the ferocity of a wild animal.

Had James been fighting with an ordinary sword then he probably would have been undone in seconds, but the Star Dragon Sword seeing that it was in less than truly capable hands was more then willing to aid its wielder, guiding James' hands through the correct motions. Thus James managed to hold his own as the two raced towards the ground and whatever fate awaited them once they reached it.

The inability to gain a clear upper hand was getting on Neclord's nerves and he took his left hand off his sword and darkness began to coaless around it. Then he pointed at it James, and the darkness shot out at him, taking the shape of a large axe head. The may-kobold twisted his feet to the side, jumped to the left flipping end over end a couple of times before he once again planted his feet and started to run down the tower again. The section of the tower that James had previously been standing on had been more or less cut straight through by the shadow axe.

"Your damaging your own property!" A bolt of magical lightening passed so close to him that it made his fur stand on end. Instead of its intended target hit the castle and several pieces of mortar flew through the air. James would have had to worry about the debris, if it wasn't for the fact that it was several feet above him by the time the it was blown free from the castle. "Your going to want one of your zombie who was a mason while he was still alive to take a look at that!"

"Damn you, stay still!" For a man in his unusual situation, James was surprisingly competent at avoiding his foe's attacks be they magical or mundane, but then James had always been good at dodging. He twisted and turned, leaping "forward" (as in farther down the tower since he could manage that fairly easily) to avoid bolts of lightening. He also use the Star Dragon Sword to swat aside or block razor sharp icicles hat Neclord hurled at him. "I don't feel like it, but you seem pretty good at it!"

James Firecat shifted his grip so that he held he sword with only his right hand, then reaching into the folds of his jacket between the buttons, he began to start hurling daggers in almost every single direction except directly at Neclord, filling the air around them with metal. Why became obvious a moment later, James Firecat split apart into many James Firecats, each one of which held a Star Dragon Sword.

They proceed to jumped from one dagger to another, managing to find balancing points on the hilts of his own weaponry. Neclord tried to keep his eyes on each and every single one of his nine opponents, but the man who looks everywhere looks nowhere, even when he is a vampire with far more acute senses and able to act much more quickly then any human could.

It was almost too late when he saw James coming straight at him, and brought up his own sword, not fast enough to block, only fast enough to arrange it so that his blade would go into James just as the Star Dragon Sword went into him. Both blades hit home, and neither one had any true effect, for that particular Star Dragon Sword and the figure holding it, vanished into thin air as Neclord's blade made contact with it.

Neclord could only look at what had happened with surprise he started to turn, but now it was far too late. The real James Firecat with the real Star Dragon Sword drove it perfectly through Neclord's back and straight into his heart. Neclord's body exploded into countless fragments, arms, head, legs, all going in different directions, and leaving James still plummeting towards the ground that was now frighteningly near.

Still unperturbed however, James let go of his new blade, and put both hands to work undoing the buttons of his jacket. "Dragon rider to passenger, bailing out!" As the buttons of James' jacket flew apart, it revealed not only his shirt, but also a shifting black mass. James tilted his body so that his back was to the castle and watched as the mass flowed up his body. It settled above his shoulders, and transformed itself into a pair of large shadowy wings that snapped open.

Instantly the wings caught a considerable amount of air beneath them. This caused James to fly backwards through one of those large stain glass windows that Neclord was so fond of. It shattered into countless small pieces, some of which that stuck into James' body, but he easily shook them out, minuscule pieces of glass weren't much of a bother when you had a True Rune. Meanwhile the black bat wings beat furiously to slow James' decent and allow him to land on he floor without sustaining any further damage. That task accomplished wings then proceeded to dissolve from James' shoulders and reform themselves into Mirri Catwarrior.

The vampire at once tackled James driving the mentally exhausted nay-kobold to the ground. "YOUR NAILED HIM!" A very intense series of "vampiric kisses" followed with Mirri's fangs basically taking chunks out of his cheeks, neck, shoulder, really any part of his upper body that she could wrap said fangs around. "TWELVE FEET UNDER! DOUBLY DEAD! THERE AREN'T ANIMALS SMALL ENOUGH OR HUNGRY ENOUGH TO EAT WHAT'S LEFT OF THAT..."

I was at this point that Mirri's words trailed off into a series of words that ladies were not suppose to know, let alone say, and eventually those gave way to sounds that could be best be described as simply those that a lioness might make in he process of mating, though aside from the quick kisses all Mirri did was simply revile in the notion of Neclord's second death.

After she finished ridding nothing more then the aftertaste of victory, she finally calmed down, though there was a slight pant in his voice. "Too long, too fucking long till we finally got around to doing it." James however was not quite as excited about the events as Mirri was. "We still need to get the Blue Moon Rune, and after he exploded like that, I can't feel it anywhere nearby."

Mirri stopped and just stared out into space for a while and then she nodded sadly. "Your right, but if there is an ounce of fairness in all of Suikoden, it's probably heading back to its last owner. We can go and check after the revolution is finished, and if it isn't then we can spend all our free time looking for it until Alex finds us another contract." James nodded slowly although he wasn't quite at ease. "Yeah, but simply put the fact is that all we know that the True Rune in question isn't nearby. Neclord only hit me with ordinary magic, and you've shown me its child pay for a vampire to change their appearance in a few small ways.

Which means that since we didn't think to check, before we went into the castle, the Blue Moon Rune might not have been here to start with..." Mirri's back at once went straight and she looked as mad as she had been happy a few moments ago. "That bastard, it would be just like him, he realizes that I'm his equal so he packs up his guard and gets out of here like a bat out of hell." Once again she did not but think for a moment but then she shrugged.. "Well so what? We've got him run now, because even if he still has that rune he doesn't disserve as long as we have this magnificent blade..."

Mirri moved as if to kiss the Star Dragon Sword, which seemed to be less than pleased by the notion. /Do not put your lips or any other part of your body near me vampire or else it will soon be cut off. I only tolerate your presence because it would be just like the Trickster to spend time the presence of those he hunts, friends close and enemies closer.\ Mirri drew back from the sword in question and shook out her hair.

"Yeah, and I'm sure your just loads of fun at parties to. But it's pretty clear that Neclord doesn't fancy getting cut by you, so if he shows up again, we'll do just that." James nodded and slowly managed to rise to his feet. "Yeah. We've got the determination and we've got the weapon, and next time, if there even has to be a next time, then he's going down for keeps. Well one way or another that was one evil runic vampire who'll never be bothering anyone ever again" "Damn straight!"

--

With Neclord's "death" the last vestiges of imperial rule (apparently Windy had been employing him as an undead strongman to look after this area, though what she had offered him for his services no one had any clue) fell by the way side. Sure enough, once again people flocked to the banner of the Silver Wolf, and his army gained new recruits.

After all this area was home to the Warrior Village whose residents took a considerable amounts of pride in the fact that they had been the very first people to ever manage too break away from the Harmonian Empire, so disregard towards those who wished to rule them from afar was something of a tradition to them, and they had great respect for their traditions.

Which also as the name of their village suggested included fighting. This was lucky since even though the army was carried on the shoulders of those who were discontent but not willing to fight, an army without actual soldiers wasn't much good to anyone. About a week after they got back to their castle the Prophets of Destruction ended up being visited by a familiar face. A black dragon was not exactly hard to spot against the bluish white mid morning sky and so after the word was passed around all six the Prophets were present when Futch dismounted.

He looked at Alexander, thought for a moment and then finally decided that he would in fact salute. "General Alexander Diamondclaw, I bring word from Lord Joshua, leader of the Dragon Knights, and bearer of the Dragon Rune." Alexander greeted Futch with what for him could be considered good humor. "I hope the word you bring is an offer of an alliance, I've noticed that the dragon knights have refrained from playing any part in the battles we've fought up to now, and a man would have to be a fool to decide at this point to throw his backing behind the Emperor when he can see which side the people of this nation truly support."

Apparently Futch had been trained by someone who was probably around 80-90 as cynical as Alexander was, because he responded without a seconds hesitation. "How many companies have 'the people' if you don't mind me asking?" Alexander spread his arms trying to encompass all the various work that was being done around them. "A fair number as it turns out, it surprises me every bit as much as yours. Now that we have finished exchanging niceties, what is the message?"

Futch fumbled and spent a few moments getting his thoughts in order before he spoke. "Lord Joshua wishes you to know that it is not because of base selfishness that the Dragon Knights have sat back as if we were planning to simply wait until one side seemed sure of victory, and only then throwing our lot in with them. You see, our dragons have fallen sick.

All but two of them have lane in an unnatural slumber for months at a time. Of course as you may know a dragon can occasionally sleep for years at a time if left to its own devices, so there no fear of them dieing for lack of food, at least not yet, but what good are the Dragon Knights if we do no have dragons? Joshua heard that the Silver Wolf Army acquired the services of a doctor and herbalist who could cure any illness, so with your permission, we would like to have him brought to examine and hopefully restore our mounts to their normal vigor."

Alexander looked Futch up and down and then spoke. "And in return for the services of this highly prized physician we would receive...? And even more to the point, how are we to be sure that after he cured your beasts you would return him to us? Nothing personal, but after our betrayal at the hands of Emperor Barbarossa I'm disinclined to trust words alone be they spoken to drift away with a breeze or even pinned down on paper."

Futch gargled slightly, he was over his head and he knew it, it was pretty clear hat he had only been sent because his dragon was still fit to fly. "I'm sorry General, I think it would work best if we could take you to Lord Joshua and you two can discuss it." Alexander sighed, there was a certain enjoyment out of making someone like Futch turn and wriggle like a worm on a hook, but eventually you were simply kicking a puppy and nothing else.

After all, hard edged veterans having a laugh, a smile, or feelings of a humorish nature they did not wish to express at the expense of those new to their profession was a staple of any type of employment. It was best done carefully because "newbies" tended to be skittish creature and you only wanted to cow them into obedience not send scampering for the hills.

"All right then, since that's probably the very same box you took us to Leknaat's in, there is no way that he six of us and the doctor will fit in it. But if your willing to put up with him probably asking you inane questions every couple minutes then James can ride 'side saddle' or whatever it's draconic equivalent is with the five of us and doctor in the box. That's my final offer so take it, or leave and come back bring Joshua himself with you."

Futch accepted the offer and fairly soon they were off. For the duration of the journey James' hands were tied tightly to the dragon's saddle by Mirri who knew the necessity of the action. Sure enough a few minutes into the air with the wind blowing through his fur if he had been able to James would have doubtlessly simply spread his hands out as far as they could go trying to embrace the sky itself leaving only his legs to grip the dragon.

That kind of thing could be plenty dangerous on a horse, doing it on a dragon going much faster and with a much higher fall might be dangerous, even to a Prophets of Destruction. But since he was unable to raise his hands much of the way up his midsection he simply acquiesced and tried to peer over Futch's shoulder an gain the best view of the passing landscape.

--

Some more niceties and the argument of a place to stay later, Doctor Luikan who walked into the room and faced Alexander and Joshua, leader of the Dragon Knights. "I have finished my examinations, it is no simple sickness that has overtaken your beasts Dragon Knight, but a powerful poison. Can you think of how it might have been administered?"

Joshua didn't have to think long. "Sub-Commander Kanaan payed us a visit, supposedly to inspect our readiness not long after it was announced that the Prophets of Destruction were outlaws, at the time Black and Thrash, the only two dragons who are still active were out on necessary patrol while the rest were presented for his inspection. That craven coward, would but I could have him within arms reach once again..."

Alexander couldn't help but commiserate. "Your not the only one who feels that way, sadly idiots like him aren't or main concern, if we take out the ones supporting them then they will fall into our hands like ripe fruit, at which point also like ripe fruit you can crush them at your leisure. I take it that should your dragons recover, their wings would provide shade for the Silver Wolf Army?"

Joshua pulled off the gauntlet he wore on his right hand, upon it a pair of golden dragon wings was quite visible, the mark left by the Dragon Rune. "Though who do not understand dragons might assume that a Dragon Knight's bond with his mount is no more then that with any horse he manages to coerce or brow beat into carrying his bulk into battle, but that is hardly true.

Dragon Knights raise their mounts from birth, or at the least associate with them if they are too young to handle looking after their own needs let alone a dragon's. They are our scaled brothers in peace as well as battle. That Emperor Barbarossa would poison them, he has made what he thinks of us abundantly clear, if he thinks we are rebels who cannot be trusted then we will prove him right.

If your doctor can restore our mounts to health then they will do a bit more then simply offer your soldiers shade!" Joshua's right hand clenched so tightly that Alexander could see the veins pulse in it. "Very well then, I approve of my allies having their own personal motivations to stand at my side. Doctor, can you create an antidote?"

Luikan looked like he wanted to move his head diagonally so as to both nod and shake his head. "I would be able to in the right situation, but at the current situation I can not, for I lack the necessary ingredients.

First I need the Moon Weed, said to blossom during the full moon in Seek Valley, don't worry it remains in bloom for over a month. Secondly I require a few Black Dragon Orchids, and thirdly... Let us worry about the third ingredient after we have obtained the other two." Alexander had seen people (particularly James) trail off the way that Luikan just had. it was the way that someone trailed off when they did not want to tell you a bald faced lie, but was equally unwilling to tell you truth.

He suspected the third ingredient would be something most unpleasant, but as the doctor had said, they would cross that bridge when they came to it so instead he simply turned to Joshua. "You probably know the surrounding territories better then I, what kind of place is Seek Valley?" Joshua took a moment to slip his right gauntlet back on before speaking.

"Seek Valley is a highly secluded place of high mountains, on foot or horse back it might take someone weeks to journey into and out of it. However on the back of a dragon it will take you about two hours, I will have my Vice Captain Milia take you there personally on her mount Thrash. As for the Black Dragon Orchid, though I have heard of them it does not amount to much, they're a very rare flower. Still, even if the Dragon Knights' strength has been terribly shaken by this poison our wits remain with us, we will try to ascertain where you might find such a flower by the time you return from Seek Valley."

Alexander nodded and stood up pushing his chair in. "Very well then, and should it be the rocky caves of hell itself, I will go there and return with it clenched between my teeth Masamune still dripping the ichor of deamons. Another thing I approve of is men who look after those work with regardless of who or what they are."

End Chapter

It is a standard feature of James' character in my works that he's rather like Victor Cachat from the Honor Harrington series (first full length novel he appears in is Crown of Swords) at first, second third, fourth, and fifth glances he's a perfectly nice guy who does not look at all threatening. Then some poor bastard pisses him off and before they know it they're in a world of hurt. So the way James acts in this chapter while facing Neclord isn't him stepping out of character, he's just stepping into a different fascet of his character.


	14. Chapter 14

Ronin Trip

FN: Thanks again to Reiko x 3 who is now not only reviewing but also editing, so this chapter should be much better off gramatically. Oh and thanks to all you guys I'd thought you'd lost intrest, but the hit count on the last chapter says differently. Enjoy!

Book One: For Want of a Rune.

Chapter fourteen: Help from unlikely sources.

James clambered out of the basket and gave the dragon an affectionate part on the muzzle. Thrash had turned out to be the red dragon that James had been interested in near the very start of this debacle and his ruby scales glistened in a way that James' clothing had no hope of ever match. He very slowly turned his eyes towards Vice Captain Milia, a red headed women (the Dragon Knights seemed to agree with Alexander when he disagreed with just about everyone else by believing that women could kill men just as well as men could) with brown eyes.

"Can you make him breath a pillar of fire into the air, because that would look really cool!" The Dragon Knight simply reached out and scratched the crimson beast's ears. "Yes and no; yes in the sense that I can make him use his breath weapon, no in the sense that typically it is best if we refrain from needlessly exhausting one of our two remaining dragons. Of course the largest difficulty with making him breath a pillar of fire is that Thrash's breath weapon is ice based."

James just sort of stared for a couple of moment, scratched his ears, and then finally spoke again. "So a red dragon breathes ice? Where's the logic in that?" Milia had no answer for him, and from the unusually focused look in his eyes (and following unfocused nature of his actions as he sloppily managed to take care of several monsters even if he needed a great many knives to do the job) that the question was still plaguing him several minutes later.

--

Alexander turned to Florence as he looked over the glistening flower. "Is that the Moon Weed?" Before she could answer someone else did. "It is, but I am not about to simply allow you to claim it." Court Mage Windy appeared out a pool of white light. Alexander looked at her and smiled. "You want the thing I've been wearing strapped across my back for the last couple of months, but I have to wonder why when you already have a True Rune.

No human being can handle the stress of having two of them in their body at the same time, you do know that don't you?" Windy simply cackled for a few moments before answering. "We who have possessed True Runes, who have lived for years beyond even an elfin lifespan, why should we allow ourselves to be held back by any pathetic notions of what is 'human' any more? I have spent many of my years studying True Runes and how they interact with us, while you have been mindlessly hewing limbs from their original owners.

I have discovered how a person can have one True Rune in either hand, and with my Front Gate Rune combined with the strength of the Soul Eater, I will be invincible." Alexander whipped his head around seeing that he was clearly not an acting participant in the conversation any more. "Oh great here we go..." "I will shatter all perceptions of what the very word 'human' means. I will rise about this fetid stench of mediocrity..."

Alexander looked up at the sky as if he could tell exactly what time it was by the sun's position. "Just about time for 'first this then that' I think." "Once I have the Scarlet Moon Empire firmly under my control, I can proceed to conquer the rest of Suikoden at my leisure. Cities will topple before me like dominoes, and finally we who have True Runes will get the respect we disserve!"

"If the next seven words out of her mouth are..." "You know, we're not so different Alexander..." "Those. Well, that gives me one more reason to feel nothing but a justifiable pride when I finally choke the last vestiges of life from her." "Both of us had everything we cared for, our friends, our families, our homes, tread upon by Harmonia's callous steel boots and it is our destiny..." "Shove it!"

That finally got Windy's attention. "What?" Alexander raised the back of his right hand towards Windy as his left began to slowly reach for Masamune's hilt. "I'll buy that maybe it was my destiny to have this rune concerning how it happened, it was a lot of luck in this roll of the dice called life, so we might as well consider that destiny. But after that, those of us with True Runes don't have destinies written for us, we write our own fates.

After all, if anyone is powerful enough to thwart destiny it is us. Nothing but your own selfish actions brought you here regardless of what Harmonia did to you, and regardless of what it did to me. Now I hate to just cut off a lady in mid rant, but I've done it enough at court to be able to do it to one who's trying to kill me. Let me make this abundantly clear. Beast Cannon!"

Alexander jumped into the air, transformed into the silver wolf in the blink of an eye, and, as if he had been shot out of the Firewind Cannon, he flew straight at Windy; his entire body glowing with silver light, and even leaving a thin stream of light behind it. Windy raised her hands as if they could hold off the massive carnivore headed her way at high speed.

Sure enough, it didn't work; the wolf barreled into Windy sending her flying to slam into a nearby outcropping of rock. Alexander meanwhile transformed back into a human being and drifted down the six or so inches between his feet and the ground like a leaf in a gentle breeze. Windy laid in a crumpled heap few moments, a rather minuscule wound on her forehead bleeding profusely as such wounds had a tendency to do.

"My Ookami Rune is a full True Rune, not a half, a fraction, or a piece of one. That gives me more power then you, so if you try to take the Soul Eater Rune from me by main force, then it will end this way each and every single time, me standing over your broken and/or bleeding body.

So I suggest you go back to your pathetic schemes and know that I only left you alive because after what you did to us, I wish to see you suffer even greater degradations before I grant you the release of death. All that you love and cherish will be ripped from your hands, only then will my hands rip your heart from your chest." Windy vanished in a pool of white light. Cal at once offered a hand palm out and open. "You dah Alpha Wolf Boss, you the Alpha Wolf!" Alexander lazily batted a hand against Cal's hard enough to have left a lesser man grasping his appendage in pain. Then the Prophets of Destruction got to work heading back towards Milia and Thrash.

--

Futch slowly blinked his eyes open. General Alexander Diamondclaw and Lord Joshua were both looking over him. "Did you get the orchid?" It'd been foolish in the extreme what he'd done, and everything in the last... he couldn't gauge how long he'd been out for, it was more or less a complete blur. The last thing he could remember was him and Black flying hell for leather across the Scarlet Moon Empire, and losing altitude with every flap of his dragon's wings.

That thought spurred on his next. "Black, is Black okay?" The two had been smiling, Joshua's a little warmer, but that question transformed both of their faces; Joshua's showed nothing, but Alexander's was a cold fury. The doctor who he had been sent to get from the Silver Wolf Army who had apparently been standing reasonably nearby walked into Joshua's field of vision.

"I'm afraid, son, that your dragon gave his all to get you here in one piece and he almost didn't have enough for that. Luckily his liver hadn't been harmed by that landing which took his life and nearly did yours as well. So between his liver, the orchid you recovered and the Moon Weed Alexander's group gathered, I was able to restore all the poisoned dragons to perfect health." Futch felt bitter tears running down his face.

The third ingredient was a dragon's liver? No wonder the doctor hadn't said it out loud, what kind of position was that to put someone in? Forced to sacrifice their dragon for the health of all the others. Well, apparently, his actions had solved that problem, Black had already been dead when they'd crash landed. Black was dead... Futch simply buried his face in his hands and cried.

--

Alexander showing a softer touch then usual gently closed the door behind him, and it wasn't until then that Joshua spoke. "Once he is well enough so that it will not cause him such injury to his spirit that he might consider taking his own life, I will inform Futch of the full consequence of his actions; he is no longer fit to be a Dragon Knight." Doctor Liukan , his work with dragons done, had remained inside the room to look after Futch, and the other Prophets of Destruction had remained on he other side of the door.

However that one sentence got James out of his chair and onto his feet in a blistering rage. "Fucker!" Joshua just stood there and said nothing so James continued, his small frame practically overflowing with red hot rage and leaving everyone else slack jawed.

"You're going to kick that kid out because he risked his life to get you both of the ingredients that you needed? You have a True Rune but I didn't see you putting yourself on the line!" Joshua quavered only slightly. "My own mount Blitz was rendered unconscious by the poison that had stricken all of the other dragons. Futch left without telling me what he was going to do, knowing that I would have countermanded him, which amounts to disobeying orders. More to the point, we are the Dragon Knights, he no longer has a dragon so he no longer can ride among our ranks.

Most importantly off all, were I to perish then every single dragon on the face of Suikoden would be banished back into the world the came from." James however was unimpressed. "Futch told us that he spent his entire life learning to be a Dragon Knight. You've got the Dragon Rune right? Then summon up another dragon for him!" "And reward his disobedience which had he not succeeded would have cost us half our remaining dragons?"

James stomped over to Joshua, stood on tip toe and grabbed the Dragon Knight as high up on his outfit as he could reach. Looking Joshua in the eye at that point required him to incline his head upwards to an almost ridiculous degree. Almost ridiculous, because there was nothing funny at all in the nay-kobold's eyes. "He succeeded! The fact that Black died is irrelevant, Black's rider was of a lower rank then Thrash's so even if he'd come back unhurt you'd have ordered him killed so as to heal the rest of your dragons.

I can understand that, this is war and sacrifices have to be made. But you go and punish Futch for having the balls to fly over Gregminster, land on Emperor Barbarossa's private balcony, grab some orchids from his personal garden, and then get out of there with Court Mage Wind shooting every spell she had at him on the way out?

I hope the moment we don't need you and your dragons to win this revolution some remnant of the Emperor's forces grab you and kill you in a slow and as painful way as possible. Expect that then if what you said is true the rest of your Dragon Knights would suffer. So instead I hope you get reamed up the ass by an inu-kobald, repeatedly.."

His thoughts spoken, James calmly turned on his heel, spun around, and headed for the door out of the room. "Come on Mirri, I feel way angrier then normal so I'd be much obliged if you'd help me relieve me of it and a few other things." James shut the door with a thunderous slam and Mirri at once rose to her feet and dashed for the door flashing everyone a fangy smile.

"Runes, I do love it when he's angry, if nothing else it's a change and you know what they say about those being as good as a holiday." Instead of breaking her stride to open the door she just transformed her body into shadow and flowed underneath it. Cal and Devi glanced at Alexander then at each other and finally for the door.

"We'll just be going also then, you know we've got lots of..." "Stuff." "Yes thank you Devi, we're going to have lots of stuff to be taking care of, and that'll keep us busy for quite a while." Which left only Florence, who looked on serenely as Joshua turned to face Alexander and pointed a finger towards the door through which four Prophets of Destruction had now departed. "So that is how you treat your subordinates?"

If Joshua thought he could awe Alexander into agreeing with him, he was going to be sadly mistaken, the general simply returned the favor pointing in the direction of Futch's sickbed. "And that is how you treat yours." Joshua did not back down. "Your follower encouraged insubordination. If he sees no problem picking a fight with me, then he might one day see no problem picking a fight with you."

Alexander was once again unmoved and in fact unusually jocular. "I'm in the process of leading what to my knowledge has to be one of the most well organized, disciplined army of people who have a problem with authority Suikoden has ever seen. If someone believed in unending adherence to authority and the rules they would be fighting with Barbarossa not against him.

And by the way, Firecat doesn't have a problem with authority, he has a problem with 'wrong' and his mortal compass is so stalwart he hangs around with Mirri for years and it still points in exactly the same direction. If you can find me a compass that points north with a giant lump of magnetic ore laying to the south east of it I will be most impressed.

And the simple fact of the mater is you are wrong to turn Futch out. He was stupid, but he proved himself willing to sacrifice everything he had, including his dragon and his life, for you. What are you willing to sacrifice for him?" Joshua looked into Alexander's golden yellows eyes, and for a fraction of an instant, he well and truly believed that the cause of Teo McDohl's death had been northing more then being foolish to gaze directly at them for more then a few moments..

--

"And thus because no longer have a dragon to ride into battle, you will be officially assigned the task of pinpointing how acting as our liaison with the Silver Wolf Army, since only a Dragon Knight would truly know how we can best be employed in battle. It is an important Task, Futch, we are placing our lives in your hands but the courage and wisdom you displayed in realizing that Emperor Barbarossa must have had a Black Dragon Orchid in his private garden and then retrieving it for us says that despite your young age, you clearly can handle it.."

Futch was sitting up in his bed now, but he still only half heard Joshua's words. He just nodded along dumbly and watched Joshua walk stiffly from the room. Only after the door shut tightly did he react. He raised his right arm and snapped it forward creating the best imitation he could of a whip cracking. "WAPISHHHHH!"

Alexander, the only other occupant of the room looked at him slightly askance but did not actually say anything. Eventually Futch broke into a forlorn laugh that subsided fairly quickly. "Sorry, it's just something I've seen a few guys do at times. I know I shouldn't be happy about it, but you just made Joshua your bitch didn't you?" A thin smile twitched at Alexander's lips. "What makes you think that?"

Futch very slowly pushed aside the blankets and rose to his feet. "Because Joshua didn't hand me my head with one hand and my ass with the other. Thinking I could take Black into the imperial capital and not get into trouble that was stupid." Alexander nodded enthusiastically. "Astoundingly so. But it worked, and Black's death, a forgone conclusion considering the final ingredient to the cure, thus the fact that he died on impact during his landing cost the Dragon Knight's nothing besides your scrapes and bruises.

That means you penetrated the enemy capital, acquired a vitally important item, and managed to return with no net lose to our side. There's a word for that, victory. Yes, you apparently must have had balls bigger then your brain, not that it would be saying much given the size of the first, to consider something like let alone try and pull it off, but working with James has given me a soft spot in my heart for when someone manages to take a very bad idea and execute it very well.

Any commander who is going to harp on his subordinate after a success like yours is only doing it because he wishes he had actually ordered you to do it. As long as you succeed and don't get anyone fighting on my side killed, you can do no wrong in my book." Futch wasn't in the mood for congratulations, as his eyes turned irrevocably towards the floor. "Black, I still got Black killed."

Alexander slowly allowed his right hand to rest itself upon Futch's shoulder. "He died doing what he loved, at least I think that would be an appropriate thing to say. More importantly, what if he hadn't died getting here? Which do you think is worse, him dieing knowing that he was protecting his master, or what Joshua would have correctly ordered done to him to get the final ingredient? Black tied down, snapping his restraints desperate to get for you, while a headsman moved in to do the less than pleasant task, most likely myself since there aren't many other men willing to try and behead a dragon.

Which would have been an end more befitting Black: die in battle like a proper mount, or die like a common animal being slaughtered so others may feast upon his flesh?" More tears glistened in Futch's eyes and he turned away from Alexander. "You're right. He went out using his ounce of strength to make sure we landed some place safe, some place where when I got thrown from his back by the force of our landing and only picked up bruises and cuts skipping across dirt rather than some place where I would have slammed against a stone wall and died.

It's better to die knowing you accomplished something, even if you're a dragon..." Those tears that had been building in his eyes fell to the floor. "Thanks, but when this war is over, Joshua is still going to be kicking me out of the Dragon Knights, you can't be looking over my shoulder forever." Alexander offered Futch a small piece of cloth to dab his eyes with.

"You're a smart for realizing that, but after this is over we should have some time to relax before we have to start looking for another contract. I've heard that there are a couple wild dragons up near the Kingdom of Matilda. We could probably find a dragon egg for you up there." Futch shook his head slowly. "There's no way the border guards would allow a Dragon Knight to cross into the City-State of Jowston."

Alexander's left hand clenched to a fist. "Maybe so, but then as you said when this war is over you're not going to be a Dragon Knight any more. As for us, border guards don't even try to stop mercenaries from coming and going as they please, certainly not first rate mercenaries like us. So we go north, get your egg, and come south with your dragon.

And if Joshua won't let you back in then, then I suppose I'll just have to find a way to convince him." Futch sighed, and then managed a weak smile. "I'll still be stuck back here raising this new dragon for around ten or fifteen years or so. That'll mean I'll be thirty five or so before I can fly as a real Dragon Knight again."

Alexander just shrugged. "So in addition to capturing you a dragon egg you also want me to tell you that I can speed up how fast a dragon grows, or slow down how quickly you can? Do you expect me to rip the Dragon Rune from Joshua's hand and present it to you on a silver platter? Pull the other one it's got bells on it!

I can't go around starting revolutions every time I see the smallest imperfection in the way the world works, that'd be like amputating someone's arm every time you see a tick. You hold the tick over a fire, you patch up the wound and move on with life. Joshua does care about the Dragon Knights, and that's more then I can currently say about Barbarossa and 'his' empire. Besides, look at it this way, your going to be losing a brother to gain a son, I speak from a certain amount of experience when I say that there are much worse things that can happen to someone."

--

Mathiu was waiting for Alexander in his room when he returned to it, that was unusual but what he said next was more so. "You have a mole." Alexander crossed his arms, at the moment he was alone in the room with the tactician, but it didn't have to stay that way. "If you expect me to believe that it's Florence or any of the other Prophets then I'm going to repeat a comment I made to a young man a short while ago."

Mathiu shook his head firmly. "No, of course not, I just wanted to talk with you in here since I know that no one would have the audacity to listen at your door, in the conference room I couldn't have been sure." Satisfied that Mathiu was still living in the same reality Alexander was, the general calmly shut his door behind him. "If we have a mole he hasn't been doing a very good job."

Mathiu shrugged helplessly. "You're an excellent commander, and you play things very close to the chest. You discuss matters only with your Prophets and myself telling troops what their orders are only just before battle commences, which leaves the mole with no time to pass the word along.

Not that the audacity of Barbarossa's generals hasn't helped our side. From the way I've heard it Oppenheimer should have known personally that you had the antidote to his poison roses. You warned Teo face to face, but evidently he failed to believe that you possessed a weapon as powerful as the firespear. Finally, since your base is out in the middle of the lake, it's not easy to pass the information along without someone noticing.

But a good doctor can sometimes spot a disease before the deadliest symptoms emerge. At worst we have to make sure that this mole does not have a chance to do us harm, at best... well you proved something during your attack on Oppenhiemer. If you wish to take advantage of your foe, then show him exactly what he expects to see until its too late.

Properly leaked incorrect information through this mole can act as a smoke screen for our true plans." Alexander nodded slowly. "We can only pull that trick so many times, if the mole's information fails to match reality too frequently the imperials will believe he's become a double agent regardless of his true intentions. I'll set Mirri on the task of locating him, though I'm surprised a mole managed to escape the once over I had her give all the new recruits."

Mathiu raised a single index finger, the eternal gesture of a master lecturing a pupil. "You were not heavily connected with the Liberation Army, you never considered the severity of the catastrophe that befell them. I have talked with some on the older soldiers, the empire's moves against them were quite well timed for the most part, like they knew exactly what they were doing for once.

Did you have your vampire reach her telepathic fingers into the heads of the Liberation Army soldiers?" Alexander bowed to Mathiu, let no one say he could not show his betters respect when they disserved it. When he rose from that bow his face was fixed in an angry sneer. "I'll lay even money it was that bastard Sanchez. I saw him with Odessa, so doubtlessly he would have been privy to the information the empire would need to find and kill her.

He survived despite being an old man and unsuited to fighting for his life, which would suggest that the soldiers might not have been trying to kill him. I'll have Mirri give his mind a through poking, and then maybe do the same thing to his body." Mathiu just shrugged. "That is your prerogative. Either way, it would be best for us to take the Silver Wolf Army ashore and then inform that they will be able to rest for a full day before departing for two weeks worth of training. Then... just leave what actually comprises our training to me."

Alexander could help but smile slightly at the way Mathiu stretched out the word "training" emphasizing every single syllable in a thoroughly unnecessary way. Mathiu might be many (many (many)) years his junior in tactics and strategy, but there was always room for an old master to learn something from a young upstart.

Not to mention sometimes there was a certain joy in simply letting a young stallion have his head and run as hard and fast as he could. "Sounds excellent, after all what with the recent acquisition of the Dragon Knights to our forces, our army could use some training in operating alongside, or underneath them as the case may be."

--

Commander Griffith in charge of a three thousand man imperial garrison looked out over the walls of his fort, and saw the Silver Wolf Army before him in full force. He saw soldiers marching in lines as neat as any imperial formation. He saw mages (you could spot them because instead of moving shoulder to shoulder they walked in small shapeless bunches) in such number that they would easily overwhelm his small compliment and then proceed to wreak whatever magical havoc they wanted, even if it was summon up a sinkhole that might send him, his men, and his fort plunging into depths of Suikoden itself.

Then he saw the dragons. They said that at any time the Dragon Knights had exactly one hundred mounts, but it was hard for the human mind to comprehend one hundred dragons, all he could tell was that there were too many of them. Too many of them flying almost wingtip to wingtip in perfect coordination.

It was also said that for countless years the Scarlet Moon Empire had enjoyed using the Dragon Knights as a way of informing their foes that the battle was over before it began, the sight of the massive beasts blotting out the sun like a flock of birds writ large. Apparently Alexander Diamondclaw didn't find anything too objectionable about doing unto others as they had done.

With contemptuous ease the dragons did a full midair reversal, somehow managing to fly upside down for a few moments before they righted themselves. And then one large blue dragon decided that it wanted to land directly on top of the section of wall that Griffith was looking over, the huge beast's claws easily finding purchase.

It fanned its wings and then settled down leaving Griffith to gaze in horror at the dragon's two riders. Lord Joshua, Captain of the Dragon Knights, and Alexander Diamondclaw. Alexander placed a hand on the dragon's muzzle giving Griffith what had to be the smuggest smirk the man would ever see in his life.

"Commander Griffith I happen to have a dragon here and have not the slightest fear of using him. I suggest you surrender your men and your position or else I will be shortly negotiating its surrender with your suddenly promoted second in command." As if it was needed the dragon gave what might have been considered a sneeze, filling Griffith's nostrils with the peculiar scent lightning always left in its wake.

The imperial commander whose breakfast had been quite interrupted so that he could have the privilege of standing here and listening to a man on dragon back make thinly veiled threats was still trying (and failing spectacularly) to bring what he knew and what he was seeing into correlation. "Aren't you people supposed to be training?" Alexander casually stroked the dragon's ear and it spat a small (if that was the right way to describe it) bolt of lightning, sufficient to leave a gapping hole in one particularly unlikely stone..

"I'm training the men to kick ass and you know what they say, no better way to learn then to do it. So will you be ordering your men to lay down their arms before any useless bloodshed ensues?" Since Griffith was sure the first person to needlessly shed blood would be himself, he gave the only order he could. "Stand down men."

The task of locking the imperial soldiers in their own dungeon and lower floors of their castle didn't take very long. Once it was taken care of Alexander turned his attention back to Mathiu. "You're running this dog and pony show Silverberg, so what's next on the agenda?" The tactician of course had already formulated his plan in advance, the moment of hesitation was nothing but taking the time to make sure his words were in perfect order.

"Kazim's fortress is not far from here, his forces are probably more or less spread out since the imperials seem to be operating under the misconception that we aren't a threat to them at the moment. They will quite soon be running into a most unfortunate situation, so we should only have to deal with the guards who are actively protecting his castle. Speaking of his castle, there is something very irregular about it, apparently to discourage tunnels his dungeons are located at the top of his fortress." Alexander twitched an eyebrow and Mathiu nodded.

"Believe me I've questioned the validity of that plan many a time. But that is where they are, and said dungeons are also currently packed with various malcontents and rebels. If we can free and arm them, then we have a ready made force inside Kazim's castle, an ideal position all things considered. "

Alexander listened calmly. "You're going to get me killed." Mathiu was slightly puzzled by this. "Why do you say that General?" Alexander offered Mathiu a firm handshake, because he DID NOT hug anyone, ever. "Because this sounds exactly like the kind of audacious half insane half brilliant plan that I'd come up with, and if he was smart enough Kazim should expect just this kind of attack. Well, let him. I've had men try to kill me plenty of times before, and guess what? I'm still here and a great many of them aren't."

--

The attack defied the first simplest rule of tactics and siege craft, you needed men on the ground to conquer the territory. The Silver Wolf Army drew within sight of the castle, but that was all, this was to be the Dragon Knight's show. They approached in that fancy wing tip to wing tip formation, but quickly broke out of it for the sake of self defense. Wingtip to wingtip was impressive, but it also made you very easy target. And while a dragon's hide was quite thick, enough arrows, magic, or combination of the two would still bring one down and Alexander wanted to hold onto each and every single one of the dragons he had at his command.

But some times you had to put the things you cared about at a certain risk, and now was such a time. It certainty served the purpose of getting the fortress' guard racing about like ants after the hill was kicked over. They attempted to mount a cohesive defense, attempted to get off volleys of arrows thick enough that not only would the dragon be able to avoid them but they might do some damage. They attempted to do these things, but they failed.

The imperial soldiers were unprepared for any kind of attack, believing that the Silver Wolf Army was still busy training, and particularly unprepared for this kind of attack, thus their attempts at tactics were about as well thought out as a drowning man's attempts at flailing about so as to keep himself above water, which usually wears him out and sends him to the bottom that much quicker.

Bolts of lightening, balls of flame, hail the size of your fist, and streams of acid assailed those humans foolish enough to make themselves easy target for a dragon's breath. More canny ones found cover and only poked their heads out long enough to fire their crossbows before reloading. Sadly, they were not canny enough to outsmart Alexander Diamondclaw.

Almost every single one of those dragons had an elfin archer strapped down to the beast with a long bow and a quiver of arrows. Humans with crossbows did not outshoot elfin archers with longbows. Inside about five minutes even the most cleverly concealed human had been flushed from his hiding place or piece of cover, often through the simple practice of reducing said hiding place or piece of cover into a pile of rubble via a dragon's breath attack.

At that point six dragons, one red, one blue, one black, one white, one green, and one a brownish rust color landed on the still mostly flat roof of the castle. These six dragons had been observers during the assault, never slowly down or coming close enough to use their breath weapons, simply flying this way and that just outside what should have been an archers range. Of course just because it was outside arrow reach hadn't kept Cal from making several shots form the back of his dragon.

The six Prophets of Destruction disembarked from the mounts that had born them to this location and at once several more dragons began to land. They headed downstairs and found the castle's jailers in little better shape then their prisoners.

It is a most disturbing thing to live through a dragon attack. To find oneself completely and utterly paralyzed by fear, knowing deep in your chest that there was nothing you could do to fight back and nowhere you could run to.

To be forced to simply sit there with your head between your knees listening to your world falling down around you and more importantly, feeling in your very bones, every single time the castle surrounding you which should have been invincible, shake as a bolt of lightening hit it. Wondering if the next attack might somehow pierce the walls around you that looked no longer like protection but like a cage, or if they might give way at any moment to bury you beneath them leaving nothing behind left of you but a broken skeleton.

Thus when the assault finally abated several defenders quickly threw themselves at the feet of the first human enemy they could find begging for a chance to surrender. Alexander allowed them to, and then he drew Masamune. A few slices later, and the former prisoners had no trouble squeezing through the now much more patchwork system of bars containing them.

"Those of you who want to fight, follow me. Those of you who don't, or can't, head upstairs and we'll airlift you out of here. Some of you who don't want to fight help those who can't on their way up. Get a move on people we're going to be pulling out of this area soon and I want to do it with all possible celerity.

--

As the human prisoners climbed aboard the dragons to escape their elfin passengers climbed down. Trying to move through a castle with a force made up mostly of archers was insane, the enemy had only to mass his forces and charge them. But the enemy in this case was in no position to mass his forces, not only where they psychologically shaken, but in some places parts of the castle had been collapsed so that it was either impossible or at least very slow going to cross rooms that had once been directly connected to each other.

And of course the Prophets of Destruction were also on hand. Between Alexander's sword-work, James, knife-work, Mirri's bare hands, Devi's flail, Florence's staff-work, and Cal's gun-slinging massed groups of enemy didn't last long. Which was how it came to be that Masamune found itself resting at General Kazim Hazil's throat.

"You seem to have me at a something of a disadvantage." Like any good general, even in defeat he was not overly emotional to such a point that he might make an unrepairable mistake, like twitching his neck. "Florence relieve Kazim of his gauntlets; both of them." As Florence did Kazim remained unresponsive, refusing to help or impede the process, in short order it was clear that neither of his hands bore the mark of a Black Rune.

"Have you suddenly decided to start taking trophies Alexander? Well, I suppose sooner or later even your memory might require some kind of aid to keep track of all of your victims, or should I take pride in the fact that you consider me important enough to keep a memento of my defeat?" Alexander was equally unimpressed by Kazim's words. "I'm just checking that I'm talking to the real Kazim. Oppenheimer and Rosman have some stories to tell you that would finish the job of turning your hair grey."

Kazim's eyes flickered ever so slightly. "So those two are still alive? Of course word of mouth has said they were, but it would have just as easy for you to kill them and claim they were working for the Silver Wolf Army while respectfully giving you the spotlight." "Just as easy, but not as efficient, which is the same reason that I would appreciate your services in finishing up this revolution by laying siege to the Emperor's castle itself."

If the notion of a band of rebels defeating the Golden Emperor in his home shocked Kazim he didn't show it. "Much as I appreciate the offer, I think I would rather die. My men will be returning soon, and though you have taken this castle it is another thing entirely to see if you can hold it." "General, your men are already dead."

In addition to the six carrying the Prophets of Destruction another dragon had kept well away from the combat until Phoenix had provided the necessary signal that the battle inside the castle was more or less over, at which point it had deposited Mathiu Silverberg at the castle's very doorstep.

He now walked down the hallway to stand at Alexander's side. "I have spent some time as both a Silverberg and a doctor cultivating contacts on the other side of our northern border.

Contacts who I sent messages to concerning the nature of the imperial deployment, and how they could shatter your forces while they were dispersed. Not to mention how Emperor Barbarossa would doubtlessly prove quite impotent when it came to retaliation against them, for the simple reason that he has no other choice.

If he tried to create another army to fight against them then he must remove men from his personal forces in Gregminster, the fortress protecting said city by sea, or the fortress protecting it by land." Kazim looked truly shocked for the first time as he glared at the new arrival. "Silverberg, you are a traitor not only to Emperor Barbarossa but to the entire Toran region!"

Mathiu however was not shaken by his powerful words. "Do you remember the Kalekka incident Kazim? It's the reason that I resigned from the Imperial Army. Because after the War of Succession, Emperor Barbarossa wanted another war, and the incident was how he almost got one, no, would have gotten one in fact if he hadn't realized how tired his people were of war.

I was involved in it, and because of me the Scarlet Moon Empire seized a few pieces of land belonging to the United City State of Jowston. So now because of me they're going to seize some land that used to belong to the Scarlet Moon Empire. If you feel that makes me a traitor, I just see it as balancing the hands of the scale." Kazim stared down Mathiu, Mathiu stared down Kazim. Kazim blinked and looked away, the doctor had triumphed overt he general. "Very well then I surrender, and perhaps I'll join you after I hear my fellow generals' stories."

End Chapter fourteen


	15. Chapter 15

Ronin Trip

AN: Due to the difficulty Rieko is having with this chapter I'm just posting it in its current form so that you guys have something to read. If little things like bad grammar turned you guys off that much you wouldn't have gotten this far in the fic anyway.

Book one: For want of a rune

Chapter fifteen: Lost opprotunities.

Alexander and Mathiu looked over their new tactical situation after returning to the castle in the middle of lake Toran. "First of all good job on taking care of Kazim, we've now got the imperials holed up around Gregermister with no need to worry about being attacked from the flank. This allows us to concentrate our forces and further tighten the noose around Barbarossa's throat. How best to do that is fairly obvious to me, how about you?" Mathiu nodded as he put placed both of his index fingers on the map to signify two particular positions.

"We can either attack Ain Gide's fortress and then proceed towards Gregiermister by land, or Sonya Shulen's fortress and proceed towards it by sea." No sooner had Mathiu answered that question then Alexander shot him another. "Which would you suggest?" Just like the first the second question was no sooner posed the answered however.

"We should attack Ain Gide, at the moment we simply don't have enough boats to successfully move anywhere near our entire army by sea to attack Sonya's floating fortress." This time no sooner had Mathiu stopped talking than Alexander began to shake his head sadly. "Go tell that to Sanchez, Mirri did a little peripheral poking around in his mind and we're going to have a not so comfy jail cell for him as soon as we can shove him into it without causing too much of a stir in the ranks.

Mathiu you're simply not thinking about all the tools we have at our disposal, but that's okay because if tactician like you can't figure out what I'm planning then I doubt Sonya has no chance to see it coming ahead of time. Go tell the men, including Sanchez about how we plan to advance towards the capital by land and send him ashore with some minor task for him to take care of, that way the imperials will know exactly what we want them to. If they buy it, good for us, if they don't, well let's see them make plans for what I have coming."

--

Sonya Shulen looked out through the spyglass and saw ships approaching out of the morning fog. From the masts of each and every single one of them flew the banner of the Silver Wolf Army and from one in particular flew the banner of the Prophets of Destruction as well. "I doubt Alexander would be foolish enough to actually be aboard that ship, besides even if those vessels make it ashore he can't possibly have brought have more then five thousand troops with him.

If he thought the bad weather or early hours would take us by surprise then he's made a serious error in judgement. The Floating Fortress is more than capable of defending itself, order all siege weapons to fire as soon as those ships are within range." Her aid nodded and at once dashed off to take care of the task. As a woman Sonya had needed to work twice as hard as her male counterparts to be though half as good, luckily with most of her competition being what it was this had not proved particularly difficult.

--

The Floating Fortress had quite a large compliment of siege weapons, and in no time at all the first giant stone boulder was hurled out towards the approach ships. It fell short and disappeared admits the fog making it impossible to see how many and what sized ripples were left in its wake. That was to be expected however as the first shot had simply been a test to help the men better aim those that were to follow. The second, third, fourth, and a great many other boulders were aimed much more carefully.

Too bad how well they were aimed didn't do make a lick of difference. Dragons who had been flying so low theirs wings almost brushed against the water rose up from beneath that cloud of mist to meat Sonya's attack. Riders forced their mounts into sharp climbs which allowed them to grab the large rocks being thrown at he nearby ships out of mid air, spin around and hurl them off towards land where whatever damage they caused was someone else's problem. Rock after rock came towards Alexander's ship and rock after rock was intercepted by one dragon or another.

--

Sonya watch the most impressive display of ariel coordination taking place before her eyes, if it hadn't been hampering her military operations she might have been able to enjoy it. "The bastard Alexander knows that we've got enough antidragon weapons here to shoot these things down like turkeys if he has them directly attack our siege weapons with them so instead he's just using them as a screen. Not like it makes any difference, get all the men ready outside the fortress, the moments those ships disembark, we charge. He can't possibly hope to take my fortress when our garrison numbers him!"

--

Alexander could easily see the gathering mass of imperial soldiers from the deck of one of the few Silver Wolf Army's tall ships, it was in fact the one flying the flag of the Prophets of Destruction, because Alexander did not fear in the slightest any weapon that the imperial fortress contained.

"Sorry Sonya, apparently your caliber was no better then that of any of the others, no wonder Windy was able to personally control Rosman and Oppenheimer, your all far to trusting for your own good." Then Alexander jumped forward from the ship deck and landed both feet firmly on the ground with the ship still quite some distance from the fortress' shore.

--

The Imperial force ten thousand strong rushed forward towards the tall ships. Mirri waved her hands, the fog parted revealing Alexander's master stroke. Row upon row, upon row, upon row, of small boats lay already docked, their soldiers already disembarked against the shore.

How had the a rag tag group like the Silver Wolf Army come up with so many boats in the space of a single night? It was quite simply really, a dragon's icy breath when properly aimed could easily transform the calm waters of lake Toran into a simple boat made of ice. Thus the nocturnal activities of Thrash and other dragons who had ice based breaths had allowed a veritable swarm of tiny ships to spring out nothing more then the raw elements themselves.

Ice like wood had a tendency to float and water, and when properly chilled it would last for least 24 hours (especially if the boat was made a little bigger then it needed to be) so a slightly chilled backside was the only mark their passengers bore from having spent time on board the unique vessel. Those boats had come in ahead of the taller ships, carefully hidden by the fog Mirri had summoned and they had been rowed ashore well before Sonya had the slightest clue they existed.

--

Through her spyglass Sonya could see only too clearly what the parting of the fog revealed. The Floating Fortress was home to ten thousand imperial soldiers give or take. Ten thousand soldiers who she had launched against the five thousand or so she had expected Alexander to be able to get ashore in proper fighting order. Ten thousand against the thirty thousand members of the Silver Wolf Army that the parting of the fog had revealed.

Ten thousand men, and she doubted one thousand of them would survive what came next. Just like Kwanda, just like Oppenhiemer, just like Teo, just like Kazim from everything she'd heard Alexander had suckered her into ordering her troops out of her castle to do battle with the Silver Wolf Army on equal footing in what quickly turned out to be an unequal matchup.

Her soldiers could have held off that army for quite a while inside the fortress, but out there on the beaches, the waters would run red with blood but with those owing their allegiance to the Golden Emperor not the Silver Wolf.

Too late she remembered words that Alexander had spoken to her over a decade ago. "Not even magic can make soldiers invisible, therefore is a surprise does not come about through the process of someone sees something they previously hadn't. A surprise is what you get when someone in command sees what their opponent wants them to see instead of what actually exists." True enough Sonya had wanted to see Alexander committing a grave tactical error and her blind faith in that belief was about to get a great many of her men killed.

--

As the fog parted Alexander and the rest of the Silver Wolf army had a clear view of their on rushing outnumbered opponents. He pointed Masamune forward, and no words in a human language were needed. Instead he simply raised his head upwards and let a loud piercing lupine howl rise towards the sky. And then he rushed forward, his army following in his footsteps.

--

Three to one odds, there are plenty of heroic legends about charging against foes who greatly outnumbered them. Somehow in the stories the outnumbered forces always seem to succeed against such horrendous odds, usually by taking their opponents by surprise that such brave warriors to go forth and attack when so heavily outnumbered.

When only halfway through a charge do the men in question suddenly find themselves outnumbered and that their foes are charging them... Well suffice to say there would be no glorious songs written about how some imperial soldiers were trampled to death as they saw what lay before them, tried to stop, to turn and run for the safety of their fortress' walls, only to be driven underneath the iron boots of the men behind who were trying to keep advancing.

And then those men who were continuing to push their way forward suddenly saw what was waiting for them, then they tried to stop or run or, something. Like a row of carefully constructed wooden blocks they were now carefully destructed before the Silver Wolf Army even reached them. You tip over one block and it tops over the next one and it tips over the next one...

--

A few soldiers either through realizing that trying to stop would only get them killed or out of sheer guts kept moving forward. But not nearly any reasonable percentage of ten thousand who had embarked chose that route.. A great many of them went down pierced by bullets as Cal easily kept pace with Alexander, reloaded his rifle, aimed and fire all within the space of a few seconds.

Still, other's went to the same fate as countless warriors from every single nation on the face of the Suikoden had suffered at as punishment for being willing to take the felid personally against Alexander Diamondclaw, death on Masamune's point, or edge, or possibly even hilt if its wielder was in a bad mood and had the time. Either way, the Floating Fortress had all of its smaller teeth plucked. Now all that remained to do was reach into the mouth and remove the larger ones.

--

That of course was a dangerous task and that was why Alexander and the Prophets of Destruction were handling it personally. The design of the fortress would make it a surprisingly fairly simple. All they had to do was reduce a certain sluce gate inside the fortress to nothing more then rubble, with it out of the way the Floating Fortress would only need a couple of quick explosive taps in a few key locations to transform it into a sinking fortress.

Alexander faced the giant stone double doors and turned to his left. "Mirri I assume that 'leftover' your holding onto is still good?" Mirri held the body of an imperial solider in her right hand, clearly dead from the empty look in his somehow still open eyes. Mirri nodded enthusiastically as she adjusted her stance from simply holding to getting ready to throw.

"Yeah, I could see the fight was winding down so I ordered his blood to make him a ten minutes or contact as opposed to my usual setting. He might look like any other corpse but he'll still be good for getting us inside, you can trust me on this kind of thing sir." Alexander crossed his arms and looked at the giant door impeding their entrance. "Very well then, why don't we make good guests and knock?." Mirri hurled the soldier's body up against the gate.

For a moment he just lay there, his body crumpled against the stone wall like a fly unlucky enough to have been swatted dead on. Then the orders that Mirri had given his blood even as his body began to shut down permanently went into effect. There was a bright flash of light, and an accompanying auditory bombardment.

When it cleared a hole sufficient for even someone like Alexander to pass through it had been blown into the side of the Fortress. "Sonny I'm home!"

Mirri was the first one through the hole bellowing the words with such force that she evidently intended Sonya Shulen to hear them regardless of how far they had to eco in order to reach her ears. Alexander glared at the vampire as he climbed through the hole rebuking her with a single word. "Mirri..." The female vampire just shrugged. "Please, like she didn't know that you wouldn't trust anyone but the Prophets of Destruction to take care of something like this.

Just because we managed to fool her doesn't make her incompetent. Besides, what does she have left to throw at us? A skeletal force, siege crew staff, cooks?" Alexander placed a firm hand on Mirri's shoulder as he reigned her in. "I don't know what forces she left at her command, but I have no intention of letting her take me by surprise with them."

--

"You're going to sink my castle." Alexander looked up from the rubble that Cal's explosives had left in their wake and turned to face one of the two remaining Imperial Generals, Sonya Shulen her blond hair askew, and blue eyes filled with rage. As just about always, Alexander remained cool, calm, and in control.

"That's the idea. Once this place goes beneath the waves we'll have a direct sea route to Gregormister, and then I and my Silver Wolf Army can go pay a visit to Court Mage Windy who kicked off our participation in this revolution through her pointless conniving and Emperor Barbarossa who allowed her to treat his old friends so disrespectfully."

Sonya however did not seem to be truly concerned with either the fate of her castle or her homeland. "You killed Teo, just like everyone says, didn't you?" Alexander nodded. "I killed him."

Sonya looked at Alexander and sighed finally knowing what she had suspected for far too long. "Teo McDohl was the best man I ever knew, the only man I ever loved." Mirri slowly began to edge to the side of Alexander, speaking in a soothing tone of voice. "Of course you did, because Teo McDohl was chivalrous, gallant, a gentleman of noble birth, a great winner from a long line of good winners. He was older than you, and he was probably the reason a girl like from a rich family who normally would have worried more about how she wore her hair then how she her troops before a battle got involved in the military."

Mirri's voice seemed to have a vaguely hypnotic effect to it echoing off the walls, floors and ceilings, Sonya's eyes began to dilate and followed Mirri exclusively as she slowly walked back and forth diagonally, each step taking her slightly closer. "I can just imagine the way your heart must have swelled when you won your first victory, when you discovered that you had a very real lever with which to impress Teo because you could be a general just like him.

The battlefield is a lonely place after all, and Teo had lost his wife near around the time the War of Succession started, and so how your hopes must have soared and then been dashed with every victory you won, because Teo still didn't pay any particular notice to you." Mirri stopped about five feet away from Sonya.

"But in the end, the sad fact is that there are better things for men to be then chivalrous, gallant, and of noble birth. There are men out there who aren't intend to put you in a prison of silk, there are men out there who don't bother with hiding their each and every emotion behind a mask of stone. Most important of all there are gentle men who are of noble spirit. And when it comes to men like that, speaking as one woman to another..."

Mirri took one elegant step forward, and then she was close enough. Her right hand curled into a fist connected solidly with Sonya's midsection. Sonya's eyes went wide and then slammed shut as her body fell forward into Mirri's outstretched arms.

"They'll forgive you for being a bitch now and again because none of us have time to put up with your: why didn't the hunky widower from across the hall notice when I batted my eyelashes at him or realize that I was rapidly approaching the age when I wouldn't be able to squeeze out for him any replacement offspring for the brat he lost during the war during which I met and fell in love with him, bullshit!

Feel free to make your dramatic speeches somewhere that isn't about to explode with us inside it!" Unfortunately no sooner had Mirri said the words then the ground beneath them shook and Cal looked down in horror. "Ever get that sinking feeling that you just found yourself in the middle of someone else's snafu?" Alexander didn't bother to work out what had gone wrong since the men outside shouldn't have started blowing up sections of the Floating Fortress untill after they'd seen the Prophets of Destruction leave it.

But there was nothing to be done but deal with the situation as it currently stood. "We've got to get out of here, and can't hope to get back out the front gate before it's under water. We'll have to go upwards. If we can get to t he battlements then we're just a short jump from actual dry land." Mirri casually slung Sonya over her shoulders her eyes glancing back and forth down the many passageways, leading to this particular area.

One of them of course they'd used to reach their current destination, but they hadn't been able seriously study the internal layout of the fortress while they were inside it. "So which way leads up?" Alexander had his answer in moments pointing Masamune towards the a particular pathway. "Sonya came at us through that doorway I can see her footprints, and I saw her up on the battlements during the fight, that way leads up." And so they raced off on that direction, Alexander making snap decisions whenever the path they were following branched since trying to figure out which way to go at that point would only waste their time.

Once or twice they had to double back and they could practically hear the rising water lapping at their heels as they made one more wrong turn that they couldn't afford and came into a room with stairs leading downwards." Mirri hefted the body of the still unconscious Sonya Shulen slightly. "The quickest way between two points is a straight line. I can use her body to make us one if you want sir."

Alexander shook his head. "I want to get all seven of us out of this in one piece. Devi do you think you can overwhelm the structural integrity of the floor above us?" Devi gritted her teeth. "Don't have much choice about it do I?" She jumped into the air and snapped her flail at a particular point in the ceiling. Then she did it again. When she landed there was a slight splash was water coming up from downstairs came up to her ankles.

She jumped again and the water came up to her knees. She jumped a third time up to her hips. She jumped a fourth time and for a fourth time her flail snapped against the ceiling. This time instead of allowing herself to drop straight back to where she'd jumped from, she moved to the side as best she could. It was a wise decision as a moment later the section of the ceiling that Devi had been striking fell downward and right through the place she had been standing creating a whole about three feet by three feet wide in the ceiling.

A while through which beams of sunlight shone down like redemption from above. Alexander allowed the others to balance on his shoulders before jumping through the hole until eventually he was alone in the room. "HOLD ONTO THESE!" He hurled Masamune and his boots up through the hole and Florence caught them. The five Prophets of Destruction stood on what had once been a castle battlement but was now heading towards water level.

The water rose up to Alexander's chin and he smiled as he began to calmly tread keep use a single repetitive series of strokes to keep his head above water as the room filled, carrying him towards the ceiling. James and Cal helped pull him through the hole in the ceiling and he quickly shoved his feet back into his boots and Masamune into its sheath. Water would be rising through the hole that hole very soon, so Alexander set and example for his troops, he took off running.

The other five followed him and leapt from the castle's battlements to land on solid ground about thirty seconds before the last vestiges of the Floating Fortress Shasarazade vanished beneath the waves. It had been designed so that water could pass through it, however when it was impossible for water to pass through it, water built up in it, and just like a boat that had taken on too much of the substance that it normally sailed over, the fortress was now heading to the bottom of the nearest body of water to never be seen by human eyes again.

"WHO THE HELL GAVE THE SIGNAL TO START BLASTING SO SOON?" The various members of the Silver Wolf Army parted to reveal a sorry sight. Sanchez was being held back by three much younger men, while Mathiu Silverberg lay on the ground nearby. A crude bandaged had been applied to his chest, but it didn't do much to hide the wound beneath it. Though from the slow raising and lowering of his chest it was obvious that for the moment he was still alive.

But such wounds were nothing to scoff at, even when they didn't kill outright, the infection they frequently brought with them could finish the job. Alexander took one look at the situation and knew just what he would do. He walked over to Sanchez and glared down at him. "So you made your choice." Sanchez nodded, his body full of determination. "I had hopped to send you to the bottom of Lake Toran and your strategist to the pits of hell, but evidently I have been unable to accomplish either.

I managed to set of one of the barrels you'd left for us and sure enough those who heard at once set off their own, and I stabbed that Silverberg bastard before these fellows could stop me. I am after all a very old man in the end, too old to be changing his allegiances because something new bright shining has come into the world. How are we to tell if it will prove to be better or worse then what already exists?"

Alexander motioned for the men to release Sanchez and then he grabbed the traitor himself. "How do you expect to find out if it is better or worse if you insist on trying to crush it before it can even come to bloom?" For that Sanchez had no answer but Alexander had plenty more to say. "You know Sanchez you just came a hell of a lot closer than any of Barbarossa's generals have to killing me any my men. That's a distinction which that elevates you to a position neither Windy or Barbarossa are worthy of, people who need to be actively dealt as soon as an opportunity presents itself." He turned towards the crowd of soldiers and smiled. "Bring rope, lots of it, and the armor from the body of an imperial solider. Hop to it!"

--

Sanchez looked pityingly out at Alexander. "You can be serious." Alexander's face showed no emotion at all. "I'm always serious. Your betrayal killed Odessa and countless members of the Liberation Army, it almost killed Mathiu Silverberg by brute force, and almost killed me and mine by the force of on rushing water. Let the punishment fit the crime.

Farewell Sanchez, if only you'd remained more useful to me as a unwitting dupe than threatening as a traitor I might have let you live to see the fall of your beloved Empire. Instead you'll just have to settle for what so many of its soldiers have done today, dieing for it." Alexander then calmly kicked Sanchez who was bound hand and foot and dressed in the armor of an imperial soldier.

He rolled across the ground, and into the same pool of water that had consumed the Floating Fortress. Alexander had impaired both of their abilities to stay above water with equal skill. A thin trail of bubbles made their way up to the surface for around a minute but eventually they stopped. Alexander turned his back on Sanchez's final resting place and turned his attention the Silver Wolf Army.

"With that bastard's death Odessa's death is avenged, but that is not enough for me, is it enough for you? Is this some pathetic fight between rival families where it is enough to repay like with like? Or is this a revolution where we will repay her cruel fate, stabbed to death while protecting an innocent child a hundred times over?

We rest for tonight, and tommorw, then we will press onward and not be satisfied untill we see Emperor Barbarossa's head hanging from a pike. Who is with me? Who among you has the courage to live to see that day with their eyes for the simple reason that Odessa Silverberg never will?" The answer came first not as a triumphant cry but as a plaintive whisper somehow making it all the more attention drawing. "I will..."

Mathiu Silverburg, rose slowly to his feet, a soldier on either side of him supporting the injured strategist who seemed likely to tear his own wounds open once again with even the slightest motion. "I will live if for no other reason then because my sister does not..." Countless other voices soon raised themselves in agreement.

End Chapter 15


	16. Chapter 16

Ronin Trip

Chapter sixteen: Those who do not know history are doomed...

"Sorry about using vampiric mind games on you." Sonya looked out through the bars at Mirri. "That's it?" Mirri shrugged. "What more do you want? Me to apologize for slugging you? We're at war, the kind of thing happens. You should be grateful I didn't turn you into a blood bomb, and you also should be grateful that I was the one who dealt with you. Alexander is considerably more egalitarian, he would have gutted you like a fish. I, on the other claw, don't like to see pretty girls die." Sonya was not noticeably impressed by these statements. "So you'd prefer to see me locked away in a prison?"

Mirri casually stepped through the cells bars, her body flickering between flesh, shadow, and back to flesh in an instant. "Here's a quick lesson for you if you somehow haven't picked it up yet, life sucks, get a helmet. That's why personally I'm glad to be dead; once you're dead you get to be the sucker instead of the suckee.

Long story made short, existence is vast amounts of suckage." Sonya had no weapons beside her bare fists, and she was quite sure they would prove inefficient against the vampire facing her. "You should have simply killed me and be done with it." Mirri turned about and began to walk up the bars of the cell. "You'll have to forgive me for not standing on even ground with you, but from up here it looks like your smiling, and you look better when you smile. "

Sonya forced her face out of its frown into a simple neutral expression, clearly determined to deny Mirri as much pleasure as she could. "I attempted to do my duty for the Emperor, I failed. I have nothing left to live for." From the ceiling Mirri shrugged once again, though it was a rather odd gesture to observe someone performing upside down. "As I previously pointed out, life is not exactly a bed of roses. But I think you're likely to find that existence is a hard habit to break.

Why the hell do you think vampires exist? For the most part, I included, we're people who were tired with our lives but too attached to our bodies and our habit of existing to want to throw in the towel, even when we kicked that nasty addiction we had to oxygen. Metaphorically speaking of course, because as you may notice I still inhale every now and again just to pass the time, because quite honestly if I didn't, I'd have more free time than I knew what to do with.

That's really the magic in vampirism you know, not the blood drinking, not the existing forever, not the turning into shadows, or bats, or wolves, or whatever, and certainly not being able to punch through plate mail. Those are all convenient niceties, especially for a mercenary, but the real magic in vampirism is that you get to start all over again."

Sonya glared up at Mirri. "Why are you telling me this?" "I had a 'Teo' once if you'll pardon the expression." Sonya's eyebrows slanted downwards from Mirri's point of view? "Meaning what exactly?" Mirri of course was only too glad to clarify. "Someone who I met at one point in my existence, and personally thought that they could do no wrong.

That I wanted to spend the rest of my days being like this person in every single way, shape, and form I could, and of course jumping into bed or any other amiable surface with them when the time arose, and believe me I do mean any other available surface, though ceiling sex isn't as much fun as it sounds, the blood heads away from the important bits. I can't say anything about your Teo, he wasn't my type, as you may have noticed I just don't gravitate towards stony withdrawn men, but I can say that the nights with my 'Teo' oh yes, time very well spent.

But in the end, they made a mistake, just like your Teo, a mistake that probably ended up killing just about everyone they were suppose to be looking after. Why? Because they underestimated their opponent, and in doing so gambled with our way of 'life' and we lost it. When I found out what had happened, I realized something very important.

There's no such thing as the perfect person who just rides into our lives and makes everything perfect. I can assure you, James' overeager do-good-ery has made me want to pull my hair out in exasperation on more than one occasion. For example, there was the time that he insisted we spend the better part of a day tramping through a forest looking for a cat belonging to a young girl. We found the thing, and apparently it was in a fratricidal mood, because James must have had close to a two dozen scratches on him by the time we finally got the ungrateful fleabag back to its owner.

The girl tried to give us what little money she had, but James wouldn't hear of it. He said, and I quote, 'your smile is all the payment I need', then off we go. Now while that's a mighty fine thing to do, you can't buy food, drink, or a shelter with smiles. But I've gotten used to it; James just wouldn't be James without his unnecessary acts of kindness and humanity, or nay-koboldity as the case may be.

But that's the important thing you have to realize Sonya, we may idolize Teos for the things that make them great, but in the end, the person that we're really meant to be with, that we're going to love, not just like a father, mother, teacher, brother, sister, cousin, son, daughter, niece nephew, but in a special way that we don't plan to love anyone else ever again, we love that person for their failings and faults.

I love to roll my eyes and make pithy quips every single time that James goes out of his way to help some poor person who's lost some pet, or needs some particular household item that they just won't be able to get by without or acquire on their own, because it's who he is, and I'm who I am. I make sure that James thinks about himself frequently enough to take care of the necessities like eating, bathing, and if I weren't a dead human being, extending his family line, not that we don't try of course, in return James keeps reminding me that sometimes the smallest act of kindness can have the largest of repercussions.

In case you're wondering, even after having met James, and seen what my Teo did, I can't, nor do I want to bring myself to hate them. Because in the end Teos are people too. People who frequently have a lot on their shoulders, and if they don't have someone to help them share the load, then it may prove to be too much for them. Sometimes we need to just grab half of that burden ourselves without saying or hearing a word, because they're not the type to ask for help.

So you tell me Sonya, did you love Teo for his virtues or his vices? Did you love him for the way that he decided to leave his son alone, so that he could go off to fight for Emperor Barbarossa? For the way that he passed the buck down to us to rescue his lost offspring? For the way that he could never forgive Alexander for the fact that he had been given an impossible mission, even for the Prophets of Destruction, and subsequently failed?

Did you love him for the way that he was so sure of victory that he just stood there and let our forces get arranged, so that when he rode down at us we could use our fire-spears to fry the entire Armored Calvary to a crisp? Did you love him for the way that he refused to believe that Emperor Barbarossa could be wrong to the point that he sounded less like a man being a loyal to his nation, and more like a child being loyal to its parent?

Feel free to chime in here at any point Sonya, Teo McDohl was like any man in power, the fact that people spends loads of time watching him meant that his flaws were manifestly obvious to anyone who cared to pay attention. He was a deeply disturbed, abnormal individual, just like every single other person on the face of Suikoden. Luckily, since abnormality is the norm, it didn't prevent him from finding a bride and having a kid, even if both said bride and kid ended up biting it before the McDohl line could be properly continued.

Tell you what, I'll put the ball in your court and start listing James' faults. He's out of his fur covered head if he thinks anyone is ever going to 'pay it forward' as he says when it comes to his tiny favors. Nobody will ever become a better person just because at one point when they were down on their luck someone does them a favor without asking for anything back. I know because I was down on my luck real bad and someone did me a favor, and take look at how I turned out..." "That's enough."

Sonya said it quite firmly, sounding not like a prisoner who had resigned herself to fate, but once again like a general before her troops. "Do you think I didn't realize that Teo would never be my husband? I am not that insipid whatever you're thinking of me. But if not for our foolish childlike dreams and hopes, even the strongest loyalty on its own is not enough to give someone a purpose in life.

Further more, I do not appreciate being referred to as a 'pretty girl' as if I was some mewling stripling fresh from her mother's breast." Mirri cackled from above her. "Hate to break it to you Sonya. But considering how I old I am, that's exactly what you are. Don't let it give you a complex though; it's not so much that I'm robbing the cradle as your being robbed by the grave."

The war is coming to and end soon, never a better time to align yourself with the winning side. Especially because those of you who insist on going down with the ship, well you might find the expression less metaphorical than you'd like it to be. I'll check with you again in the morning before the final boat sets sail for Gregminster, you'll want to be on it. Otherwise you may never set foot on a vessel again for the rest of your life." With that Mirri transformed into a swarm of bats which flapped their way from the room.

--

Doctor Liukan stepped away from Mathiu; the Silverberg's wounds were now bandaged in a much more professional manner, and unlikely to come loose all of a sudden with no provocation. "That is the best I can do. The potion I gave him should be wearing off soon and he'll be waking up. You had best warn him that..." Alexander waved the doctor off and he left without another word.

Alexander sat at Mathiu's bed side showing no more motion then the man in it for about ten minutes until Mathiu's eyes finally opened. "Well it looks like I may just see my sister's dream become reality after all." Alexander glared down at him. "I'd advise against that. Sanchez might not have killed you outright, but that wound is probably going to take years off your life.

A great many of them if you insist on trying to do anything other than rest in your bed for a long while." Mathiu's blue eyes looked up at Alexander's with an odd mix of pleeding and firmness. "I know that. But all the same I want to be there when Gregminster falls." Alexander frowned down at him. "The rocking of even the gentlest boat I have at my command isn't going to do that wound much good, you might as well be stabbing yourself over and over and over again. Not to mention what even possessed you to be near Sanchez knowing he was a traitor? Up to that point you'd shown yourself to at the very least competent when it came to making decisions." Mathiu shrugged as best he could under his sheets. "Keeps your friends close and enemies closer, sadly when the time came evidently I didn't have any friends close enough.

That is one of those horrors of war, you can be doing everything right, but it only takes you one small mistake to get yourself killed." "You realize that wanting to go see the fall of the Scarlet Moon Empire is going to be another of those mistakes that's likely going to get you killed? Whatever comes after the war, it's going to need bright intelligent good hearted people like you around."

Mathiu coughed slightly shaking his head. "It could take ten or twenty years off my life, but look at my uncle Leon, we Silverbergs tend to be long lived. No matter what this wound does to me, I should be able to last at least the next five years. That should be more than enough to make sure that whatever comes next has become truly the norm. Ever since I could truly tell the difference between wrong and right, I've lived my entire life doing only what I thought was best for people, even when I was wrong I started out with good intentions.

Just this once, I'd like to do something selfish, I want to see the empire fall with my own eyes. Is that truly too much too ask? I suppose if it is then it will become very evident when I drop dead, but until then, even if it is only from the vantage of a stretcher I wish to see the outcome of the final battle." Very slowly Mathiu pushed aside his coverings and pushed himself from the bed he had been laid down on.

"I don't care what that surgeon you had examine me said, as a doctor myself my second opinion is that I'm fit enough to go and see whatever happens, even if I'm no condition to be considering strategy. I take it that your going to be approaching the imperial capital from the north?" "So that we can't get trapped between Ain Gide's forces and those of the Imperial Guard..."

"Yes, excuse me for pestering you with such a minor detail. But in my current condition I can do little else, and I can not lay still and simply wait. So this must be how it must feel when a man is about to become a father, knowing that something you had a great hand in and of considerable importance to you might soon come into the world, and yet being helpless to do anything more than watch. It is a prospect unsettling enough to unnerve even me. Is that perhaps the reason that despite being alive for so long you have no children Alexander?"

Alexander crossed his arms and shrugged. "I already have too many other things to look after in this world to worry about a child of my flesh and blood. Luckily True Runes, they have curious effect on women or at least Florence tells me they do. Part of the effect of keeping them at the peak of physical maturity is that, they do not have... cycles... and so..."

The two shared a quite moment of reflection on how there were some subjects that even experienced dogs of war did not care to comment on. To break the silence Mathiu took a shuffling step forward, though he almost ended up collapsing or at the very least sinking to his knees while grasping his wound in pain that he could not hide from his face. Alexander slowly took Mathiu by the shoulder.

"Our ship does not leave for a while yet Mathiu, and however eager you are to witness the end of the war you must be able to see the wisdom in gathering what rest and strength you can until that time." Mathiu allowed himself to be guided back to his bed and fell gratefully onto it. "You're right. I feel like I could sleep for a week should I close my eyes. I will not object if you simply move this bed onto whatever vessel will carry us north, but please make sure to wake me when we arrive, the only thing worse than being here while the events took place would be being there, yet unable to observe them."

Alexander nodded slowly as he stood up and headed for the door. As he opened it he spoke words in a considerably gentler tone of voice then normal. "Do not be afraid to rest your head upon my shoulder Silverberg, I have carried heavier burdens."

--

"What the fuck? It looks like the entire Harmonian army is camped out there..." Cal's estimates tended to be on the pessimistic side, but normally not quite that pessimistic. Alexander held out his hand and the blond haired man promptly handed over his personal spyglass which happened to be made of several glasses overlapping one another so that Alexander could see all the way to the Imperial Capital from a considerable distance out to sea, and he could see the extremely numerous battle flags that were flying around the city.

"Impossible, the Harmonian Army would have needed to have moved through Highland and Jowston to get here and Jowston is currently actively at war with the Scarlet Moon Empire so I doubt Annabelle would have let them do it. The Emperor probably pulled Ain's troops into the city to reinforce his own, but there's no way he could have enough soldiers to need that many flags, at a rough guess it'd mean he had an army close to one hundred thousand strong...

It's probably just a bluff. If he somehow has managed to magic up another eighty thousand soldiers we'll know if when he brings them out to meet us in the field, and as long as we keep the boats ready we can always retreat back to the waters to reconsider what we'll do if he does actually have that many soldiers. For now we simply play it by ear and keep ready. Emperor Barbarossa is coming to the end of his rope I sincerely doubt this is anything more than a ruse."

--

"So boss can we pull back to the ships yet?" Arranged against the Silver Wolf Army were indeed something close to one hundred thousand Imperial "soldiers" if you call most of them that. For every single human soldier there were four that were anything but.

They were not dwarfs, elves, kobolds of any type, or any other recognized race on the face of Suikoden. They varied wildly but by and large they simply monstrous. Most of them stood six or seven feet tall, their skin (what little of it could be seen given their armor) was a variety of nauseating colors from deep purples to bright pinks. Alexander used one last glance to size up the enemy before turning to Cal.

"Probably a good idea. I'm willing to bet those things are some kind of demon, but even demons need to eat. We'll pull back to the ships and reposition our forces to keep Barbarossa from breaking out of the trap we've laid for him while we bolster our own strength, we can't win this battle but the fact that Barbarossa is willing to employ such monsters against his own countrymen says quite a bit about how desperate he is."

Suddenly the wooden chest on Alexander's back gave a very firm shake and then another. Florence standing beside him could see it's movements and had a good guess of what it meant. "I think the Soul Eater Rune wants out all of a sudden." Alexander looked at the force which would utterly annihilate his own if they met in anything like equal combat.

"There's only one thing to do about this, we'll have to take a vote on the subject. If we release the Soul eater Rune it may not take kindly to the fact that we've been lugging it around for so long, but then there are six of us and only one of it, so we should be able to contain it fairly quickly. One the other hand, if the Soul Eater Rune directs its fury at Barbarossa's forces, well there's no telling what will happen. It won't be pretty I'm sure of that, but it will serve Windy right for trifling in affairs she should have known better then to get involved in.

Or we can just forget about it and pull back to the boats, the war will go on longer, winter is coming up but we can outlast it and outlast Barbarossa and his infernal allies I'm sure of that. I've never shied away from taking a risk so I'm for letting the Soul Eater out. How about the rest of you?"

"How they feel does not matter." A shimmering black vortex opened up and Leknaat and Luc stepped out of it. Leknaat looked out at the imperial army and then over at Alexander. "My sister has used her Front Gate Rune to summon creatures to a world where they have no rightful place. However my Back Gate Rune can dismiss those she has summoned." Alexander stopped reaching for the chest and gave the new arrivals his full attention.

"Couldn't Windy just summon them up again, and we'd find ourselves going back and forth at this all day and night?" Leknaat gave a guttural growl as she turned her attention to her apprentice. "While Luc lacks my fine control, his power however unwieldy is greater than mine or Windy's. Together the two of us can easily make sure the banishing spell I cast is permanent, can't we apprentice?"

Luc nodded as he removed the brown glove he wore over his right hand revealing a swirling white vortex of lines on his back hand, the mark of the True Wind Rune. However, there was still one more question that Alexander had on his mind. "Leknaat I thought you said that if you ever made a move then you wouldn't be able to see what the future brings. Isn't this getting rather heavily involved with affairs of the world your only suppose to be observing?"

Leknaat pulled off her right glove revealing a blue portal on the back of her right hand. "There is a time for knowing what the future will bring, and there is a time for bringing my bitch of a sister to task for all she has done to despoil the memory of our friends, our family, and of Gate Village itself."

Alexander smirked confidently at the army of monstrosities that should have been relegated to nightmares and fever dreams, before shooting a quick smile at Leknaat. "I like you when your angry." Leknaat gave a quick nod and small smile to Alexander. "Of course you do Alexander; your Okami Rune respects only the more primal of human emotions, such as rage. Likewise, your history as a military commander makes you feel spiteful towards me because you see me as someone who could be a powerful ally if it wasn't for the fact that I refuse to involve myself in this world's problems.

But then every rule must have an exception, Luc on my command." The seer and her appetence had raised their bare right hands and called out in one voice. "Bid those given entrance through the front gate to exit through the back, BLUE VORTEX!"

--

A blue hole opened up in the sky and a swirling miniature tornado came down from it. It closed around one of the monstrous soldiers and with an inhuman grow the thing was sucked upwards by the winds into the blue hole above.

One after another, monster after monster was sucked into the hole as the tornado moved with amazing skill never coming close to brushing up against a human soldier of their own accord once. Of course one unlucky solider found a huge ten foot tall monster holding onto him for dear life as its hour of reckoning drew near.

The winds did not care to split hairs, both were sucked into the portal and both vanished. A considerable amount of unpleasantness resulted from this sight as the human imperial soldiers having no desire to share that particular fellow's fate did their best to try to hold off the embraces of monsters determined to secure themselves to the ground through any possible means. A few of the smarter monsters grabbed hold of trees though this did them no good, because the vortex simply plucked them right out of the ground, roots and all.

Near the back of the Imperial Army two figures who despite being only a few feet apart needed to shout to make one another heard over the wind were having a discussion. "Yuber she's pulling all of your soldiers back to the nether world!" Yuber flipped up his visor and allowed Windy alone to see his face, and the demonic leer upon it.

"Not just my troops, that's thing is gonna punch my ticket any moment now! Do you know what I used to do? I used to go around screwing with human minds, offering them unimaginable power and then turning their dreams to nightmares. That's what I did until I met Alexander, and now every single time I run into him, he fucks with mine!

He's loaded the dice before we sat down to play Chinchiroran, he's swapped pieces in Shogi while I sneezed, he slips poison in my drink when we have a contest to see who can hold more, he hides a magnet beneath the bulls-eye and then throws darts with metal tips, he's marked cards, he rattles the cups while he pretends to be thinking so that he can find out which one the stupid ball is under, he hides an entire decks worth of cards up his sleeves so that he can always find whatever he wants to complete his inside straight, and he's has his pet vampire read my mind and telepathically tell him what symbol I'm about to throw in Janken!

He draws his one as a straight vertical line and then 'accidentally' makes a small mark so that he can claim I quadruple boogied that par three instead of getting an eagle! He touches the ball with his hands, he's got the table on adjustable stilts so he can tilt it to make sure I scratch the eight ball! He travels, he makes left turns from the right hand lane while he's got a red light to cut me off and he doesn't bother to signal till his car has already pulled in front of mine!

He has his gunman shoot down any pins that he misses, he spits on the ball before he pitches, and he steals third by running across the pitchers mound from first base! He crosses the line of scrimmage before the ball has been touched, he once took off his skate and proceeded to stab me to death with it! He's cheated me so many times that I have to delve into games, sports and devices that you pathetic humans won't develop for centuries in order to properly express the fact that I now officially need a scorecard to keep track how many times he's cheated me!

Thirty seven including the fact that he has done it again this time if your pathetic mind was wondering... oh wel,l I don't suppose I'd even pay attention to times like these if I didn't have something to keep me interested, next time you magnificent bastard!" And then Yuber simply ceased to be, leaving behind an empty suit of black armor which was quickly sucked up into the blue hole in the sky, leaving Windy no recourse but to stare at what had become of her second in command in wordless indignation.

That lasted for about five seconds, and then the wind coming down from the vortex adjusted itself slightly, and for the first time it moved purposely towards a human. Windy was drawn upwards about halfway up the vortex before it suddenly decided it decided it wasn't interested in her, and the direction the tornado spun reversed. Which lead to Windy being slammed into the ground so hard that she left an indent of her shape behind.

The world blinked in and out of focused as she lifted her head up and spat dirt from her mouth. She only had time for one last quick spell before fainting. The Court mage vanished in a flash of white light to reaper inside her room in Barbarossa's castle completely unconscious.

--

Having grabbed every single one of Windy's diabolical minions (and a few unlucky human soldiers) the blue vortex in the sky closed. A touch of feral delight danced in Lenkaat's eyes, and there was plenty more then a touch of it in her voice. "Our parents entrusted us with the halves of the Gate Rune so that if one of us didn't get away then the Harmonians would not be able to posses its true power.

In using your half for such actions you spat upon their sacrifice." Those words said, Leknaat trembled slightly and regained her composure again. "Sadly I have little strength left, so I must be departing for my home to recover while I still have the energy to do so, Alexander, until next time."

A black shimming portal opened behind her and the two wordlessly stepped through it. Alexander took his eyes off that spectacle before the portal finished closing returning his attention back to the much diminished imperial forces taking only the time to shoot a quick smirk at Cal. "It would seem to me that in coming out to meet us here when they had about five times as many soldiers as we did, that they've put their back to a wall. So now that the odds are more or less even, all that is required is for the Silver Wolf Army to prove itself to be once again, a very hard place.

I want all five of you to nail those bastards with a full ninety percent of your power, we'll all be resting again before we deal with Barbarossa so don't worry about holding anything back. Now then..." A bright silver light enveloped Alexander and when it finally faded he was gone, a large silver wolf stood in his place instead.

That wolf dug its paws deep unto the ground and letting out a truly ringing howl laying all the more oddly upon the ears because of the fact that it came at midday, the exact opposite of the time that wolves should have been howling.

Florence translated the orders into conventional human for the rest of the army. "CHARGE!" The army followed the wolf which set out at a fairly sedate pace so that ordinary humans in armor had a chance of at least not falling too far behind it. Cal and Devi shared a smile as both began to take off their right gloves, and Cal made sure that Phoenix was strapped securely to his back, he wouldn't be needing it in this fight.

"You set em up I knock em down." "Seems like I'm doing all the hard work with having to make nature work in reverse, making lightning strike the highest point is no challenge at all for you."

Despite her dour words, there was a smile on Devi's face as she pressed her right hand into the ground. Green lines of energy raced across it towards the remaining imperial forces, which were in for several nasty shocks. Several sections of previously solid dirt beneath their feet suddenly gave way, not sinking downwards as might happen during an earthquake, but instead rising upwards into the air. Those unfortunate men only had a couple of moments to look of the sides of their little islands in the sky before the no long worry about how exactly they were going to get back down safely.

Bolts of lightening began to fall from the sky reducing those islands to chunks of downward falling rock. The debris that rained downward among the imperial forces left even more confusion and causalities in its wake than the Devi's attack had.

Mirri meanwhile had turned her eyes towards her personal stock of 'weaponry' for the situation. "Hate to break it to you Bessie but you're not going to live to get to tell the calves about how you saw Alexander Diamondclaw in action."

The cow let out a plaintive moo, as Mirri's clawed hands easily sliced through the piece of rope that had been binding it to the tree. She then dragged it along with her, took about a dozen paces and jumped rising into the air. The full grown and reasonably well fed female cow was more weight than she could keep aloft carrying, but she could glide for quite a while with her shadow wings beating rapidly.

Mirri bit into the cow's neck and prepared to get to work as she drifted closer to the imperial army. There was nothing in particular about the human body that made it solely suited to function as a blood bomb, it was just that they were usually the most convenient source of what she needed on hand. This time though she had planned ahead.

She picked out a good sized group of enemies from her position above them, and hurled the deceased bovine in their direction. The dead cow for its part either due to the strength of the arms that had thrown it or some other factor proved to be a surprisingly accurate weapon.

It landed directly in the middle of the group of archers who had been in the process of taking aim at the vampire, overhead. Mirri found a two hundred pound human being could usual blow a hole about six feet by six feet in most relatively unresisting targets. A cow that weighed something to the other order of twice thus happened to pack about twice as much blast.

Those archers would probably later be complaining to whatever deity or spirit would listen about just how unfairly they had been slain, but it was unlikely that the worms would care that they had been the victims of exploding livestock.

Mirri quickly reversed her direction in midair without anything other then her own will allowing her to suddenly change course, and she went into a dive back towards the tree to which a dozen cows had been tied in preparation for them to give their lives for a higher cause.

--

Florence slammed the tree limb she was currently using for a staff into the ground and watched with satisfaction as less then a minuet later several large tree roots sprouted out of the ground behind the imperial soldiers. Of course they weren't just there to beautify the terrain, the branches of these trees began to swing themselves about, managing to garb some soldiers in a deadly constricting embrace, while sending others flying, or simply knocking them to the ground.

Either way it was certain to give their opponents something to worry about besides the foes coming directly at them. Which was a shame for them she reflected considering that they'd need to do some very serious worrying about Alexander who would be upon them any moment now if her eyes reported the situation to her correctly.

--

It is one thing to try to bring down a horse with a sword. Of course it is not a task a soldier relishes, the horse doubtlessly has the reach and between its four legs can attack in just about any conceivable direction it is facing and if you expect conventional plate-mail to stop an iron-shod hoof who could quite quickly find your self disastrously mistaken. But it is a more or less doable task, especially if say about three men all go at it at once.

Of course it is often unnecessary because calvary are usually met by foot soldiers wielding pikes and with a pike killing a horse is a much less dangerous affair since you have the advantage of reach and intelligence on your side.

Then there is the task of trying to stop the Silver Wolf, which is one for any solider to dread since it is downright impossible. For one, the wolf's claws had a longer reach than any but the longest of swords. For another, a man in plate mail has his weaknesses, there are gaps in his armor if you knew how to attack them correctly, but there was no part of the wolf that was not covered in fur. Fur that did all but openly turn aside blades jammed hastily at it.

It's claws lashed out and they were sharper then any animals claws had a right to be, ripping right through armor and pulling themselves free in the process tearing through not only chunks of flesh but the finest armor Emperor Barbarossa had been able to furnish for his remaining loyal soldiers.

Then there was its rider. The red furred and red dressed Nay-Kobold sat astride the wolf, his legs wrapped around its neck since he never would have been able to comfortably fit them around its midsection. He hurled knife after knife from what seemed like an endless collection of them concealed within his jacket.

Those soldiers who came too close were quickly slain by the wolf's claws or in a few rare occasions a bite from its mighty jaws. Those who hung farther back went down with knives sticking out of the gaps in their armor. Either way the monstrous animal proceeded to wreck royal havoc with the imperial soldiers who had the misfortune to come close to it. It did all this, before the Silver Wolf Army itself came to bare against the disorganized imperials.

The results of the Silver Wolf's army's charge against such a foe were predictable. The final cherry on top of the disaster was that with the way that the blue vortex had dealt with Yuber and Windy, this army no longer had any coherent leaders.

And an army without leaders fairly quickly became a mob. A mob which had been left with no place to run to. If Windy hadn't been so sure in the superiority of her army (or perhaps simply foolish of military matters) she never would have gone to meet Alexander men in their current location, thus leaving her own with no place to run if things turned out for the worse. If she had waited and met Alexander's men in the field, doing so while her own had their back to the city's gates instead of its walls a crisis might have been averted. But she had not, and so now her men reaped the disaster she had sown and the Prophets of Destruction had cultivated.

--

Mathiu Silverberg lay on a stretcher supported by two stout women who's husbands were fighting in the Silver Wolf Army. He was laying directly on his wounded side and just about every breath he drew in reminded him, of that fact, but it had to be this way, because it let him see the battle through his spyglass. He had watched intently for a great while, his interest in how the match of wits and weapons before him far more important than any physical pain. Now he had seen all he needed to, lowering his spyglass and shifted to lay on his back.

"That is enough. Windy should have left the imperial forces in Ain Gide's control rather than trying to lead them herself. Bring me as close to the battlefield as you can without risk, odds are it will all be sorted out by the time we arrive."

--

Alexander once again made use of Cal's device that amplified his voice many times over. "OPEN THE GATES OF THE CITY OR ELSE WE WILL TEAR THEM DOWN!" The gates swung open in less then ten seconds. The Silver Wolf Army entered the capital of the Scarlet Moon Empire in good order.

People looked out from windows, and in some cases quickly drew them closed a few moments later. It had been over a decade since the War of Succession and even then nothing like this had happened, the fighting had never come this close to Gregminster, more importantly, regardless of which side won that particular bloodline squabble the Scarlet Moon Empire and the house of Rudager would have proved victorious in the end.

Alexander Diamondclaw was not from the Scarlet Empire, not from the Toran region, and the fact that he led an army made up almost exclusively of residents of the Scarlet Moon Empire did nothing to abate that fear. Nor had the imperials' decrees and messages which the people of the city had been peacefully imbibing. That the rebellion was spending soldiers at an amazing rate and that it would only be a matter of time before they were put down to start with, that story was clearly anything but true.

So who was the man who had defeated all of Barbarossa's generals? Some of the residents remembered that this man had once been refereed to as the Seventh Grand General during the War of Succession, but those reports seemed a very long way away on this day. Far more pressing were the tales of how Alexander Diamondclaw was a beast, a monster in human clothing, who laughed as he beheaded his opponents and allowed his vampiric minion to lap up the blood before feeding their remains to his 'pet' a giant silver wolf that answered only to his commands and ate naught but human flesh.

Alexander looked out at the eyes starring at him and his men and stood tall and firm letting them drink him in. "People of the Scarlet Moon Empire, why do you fear your brothers? Were this world a better place, the private disagreement between myself and Emperor Barbarossa, which he started here in this very city by ordering me to surrender what was rightfully mine, would never have come to this. But he acted like a coward, hiding behind his army rather than being willing to settle our personal matter personally.

He challenged me, and I refused to give him what was rightfully mine, he selected weapons, men in armor at the distance of a sword stroke. So I defended myself, and as you can see, even though he chose the weapon, I won this 'duel' fairly. Come the rising on the sun tomorrow I have every intention of going in and finishing this as it was meant to be, man to man.

Ask yourselves would any of you have surrendered what was rightfully yours to the first bully who demanded it? Those of you who would have fought back should be able to understand why the Silver Wolf Army now stands before you, those of you who would have surrendered, you are cowards and I don't give a fuck what you think.

I pay my men well and they will spend their wages upon your wares because if you look past their armor and their weapons you might well recognize them as the people you have seen before. And in a few days time they will take off that armor and once more become whatever they were not so long ago.

Do not despair because Emperor Barbarossa's armies have failed, rejoice because the war is about to end, your hopeless, causeless, baseless fear is about to end. I have nothing more to say."

And with that Alexander headed straight for the closest inn, hurled a mass of currency in the owner's general direction which probably consisted of about twice his going rate, rate, pushed the nearest unlocked door open, walked to the bed and fell face first into it already asleep.


	17. Chapter 17

AN: Wow, only three hits on the last chapter, who's dog did I shoot?

That said thanks to Reiko as always for beta reading and reviews.

Ronin Trip Book One: For Want of a Rune.

Chapter seventeen: Promises broken, promises kept.

In the morning the six Prophets of Destruction arose, and Alexander casually kicked open the wooden double doors leading into Emperor Barbarossa's castle. All that remained of his forces were the elite of the Imperial Guard; about a hundred of them, standing in the way of the half a dozen mercenaries.

Those familiar with the capabilities of both groups in battle (such as Alexander Diamondclaw) knew that this was not going to be anything even closely resembling a contest, the walls of the Emperor's castle were going to be painted red with the blood of its defenders.

Of course, no sooner was the outermost door penetrated than they faced their first living obstacle, the last remaining Imperial General. Ain Gide already had his blade in hand and thrust it forward in Alexander's general direction. "Face me in combat if you're ready General Diamondclaw." Alexander declined to reach for Masamune, choosing to instead skewer Ain with a glance.

"Do you mind if I ask why you want to follow Barbarossa to his grave?" Ain Gide nodded calmly. "I am aware that there is only one general on the face of Suikoden who can be considered a threat even without an army, and I am not so foolish as to be unable to recognize him. However, if Emperor Barbarossa does not have Ain Gide to rely on, he is in a very sorry state indeed."

"The Emperor and his Empire is in even sorrier state when he does not have an army of any kind to rely on. Devi, deal with him, and I want him alive when all is said and done." Devi uncoiled her flail from around her arm with one quick snap. "You probably never cared, but my weapons name is Apologizer. Tell me when you can figure out why."

Devi calmly stood back and lashed out again and again at her opponent who struck out at the flail knocking it away time and again without changing his stance. To start with at least, after the third attack there was a noticeable droop in Ain's shoulders, and after the fourth his sword went firmly into the ground with his hands wrapped around its hilt.

Devi coiled Apologizer back around her arm. "It's because I can channel the power of the Gravity Rune through it... I can double the weight of any in animate object that I strike with it. This means that I only need to stand back and lash until someone's weapons become so heavy that they do what you're doing now; your body entering into the ancient elven pose of apology."

Ain let go of his sword which now weighed considerably more then his arms could lift, let alone swing, but it was too late. Devi spun forward, and Apologizer uncoiled with grace that would have qualified as deadly was not for its owner's intent. It collided with Ain's chest-plate and between the strength of the impact and the sudden increase in weight of that particular portion of his armor, Ain fell to the floor. Apologizer lashed out again and again faster then the flickering of a serpent's tongue.

By the time she finally coiled it up for the second time Ain lay panting on the floor unable to move an inch. "You may consider your apology accepted. Don't worry the effects will wear off after we've killed Emperor Barbarossa."

And with that the six Prophets of Destruction proceed to walk over their now prone foe, Alexander making sure to step directly on Ain's chest and take a moment rub his traditionally dirt covered boot on the imperial general's otherwise sparkling armor. "I do not appreciate fanatics General Gide; they rank just above idiots in things I can't stand. You see idiots have the excuse of their own natural foolishness to explain their behavior; a fanatic has a mind but they simply refuse to use it.

I suggest you spend your time pinned helplessly to the ground thinking about how, while loyalty is a fine thing, it should be repaid in kind or else it is nothing more then foolishness. You were loyal to the last and Emperor Barbarossa sent you out here to die in the hope that the process of killing you would buy him a few more minutes of life. That is not how I believe a commander should treat his troops, why exactly do you think it is?" Ain Gide had no answer.

--

"You're all that's left Barbarossa. I told you that I'd break you, take away everything you cared about, and now I've done it. So are you ready to die?" Barbarossa rose from his throne picking up a black sword sheath in the process. "Perhaps, but I'm not going to give up just yet. It would be disrespectful towards my ancestors who payed no attention to the odds when they chose to break away from the Harmonian Empire. Prakk give me your all!" Barbarossa raised his sword above his head, and there was a bright flash of light. "FUCKITTY FUCKING FUCK! Why does this have to happen every single time?"

In place of Emperor Barbarossa there was now a three headed golden hydra. While Cal pondered the aesthetics of the creature's arrival, Alexander was all business. "I don't know, and I don't care. Aim for the chest because you know what the legends say about hydras, you cut off the heads at the neck and two more take its place, and that thing already has too many of them for my liking."

As he spoke he right most head opened up its mouth and spat a bolt of lightening at Alexander, but somehow a slash from Masamune managed to knock it aside, sending it smashing into a wall instead.

The left most head then reached out and tried to grab hold of Devi, however the elf calmly lashed out with her flail and managed to wrap it around the hydra's head. Then as she stepped backwards she grabbed hold of the thing's neck and yanked tightly. "Oh no, sit boy, heel!"

Of course if the hydra evidently had no intention of following anyone's orders;, its middle head attempted to bite of the chain in half, but flail was either too small or the teeth trying to grasp it too big. Not to mention after its first failed bite it had a second impediment. A metal bullet with lightening crackling around it slammed into the side of its head, reducing a patch of glimmering scales to black burnt flesh.

"Hey goldy, I've got a message for you that involves my middle digit but I'm too busy to give it at the moment." Rather than offering some offensive hand gesture to the hydra Cal chose instead to work on reloading Phoenix. The right most head spat a bolt of lightening at him and Cal all but cackled in mirth. He tossed the bullet his right hand had been holding up into the air, and raised his palm to meet the bolt of lightening. It struck Cal's hand and suddenly stopped transforming into a ball of crackling energy centered around his right hand.

"Stupid fucking lizard, lightening can't hurt me. I don't care if you can breathe stuff, I can feel it racing through my veins. Of course I bet in your minuscule brain you think lightening can't hurt you, don't you?" Cal opened his right hand and caught the bullet he'd cast into the air. He snapped his fist closed around it, and carefully maneuvered his hand, so that the bullet pointed out of the small opening between his thumb and the meat of his hand.

The lightening jolting about his right hand travelled inwards slipping between the incredibly minuscule breaks in his fingers, and for the shortest moment it disappeared. Then the bullet came screaming out of Cal's hand aimed right for the head that had attacked him.

No turning only a couple of scales black this time, the shot punched through the scales it hit, and back out through more scales on the other side of its neck. "You guessed wrong." Sadly while Cal was busy attacking this particular head, the middle one had stopped trying to help its partner, but instead opened it mouth in Cal's direction. Countless small pebbles flew out and somehow through what could only be called magic and nothing else, the pebbles had grown to be about the size of decent rocks as they came closer.

Cal just barely had time to spin and raise his right hand before his face and hide Phoenix behind his back before the storm of rocks hit. He weathered it fairly well but was pitched backwards with a groan of pain after being nailed by the contents of a days work at a small quarry. Devi uncoiled her flail and rushed to Cal's side scooping him up in her arms as the middle head tried to finish what it started with a bite from its teeth. Cal tilted his head backwards, his eyes rolling around in his head. "My heroine..."

Suddenly the wooden double doors to the throne room were slammed open hard enough that they broke cleanly off their hinges. Mirri and James had beat a quick retreat after the hydra had appeared, and now they stood in the throne room's threshold with five imperial soldiers piled at James' feet. "Let's do this thing!"

James picked up a soldier and tossed him to Mirri who caught the man and twisted his body around so that she could see his neck. "He might have served you in life, Barbarossa, but he'll serve us in death."

Mirri bit deeply into the man's throat and then hurled him at the Hydra. It arced over the Hydra's heads and landed on its body before it exploded, blackening a great many of its scales. "RELOAD!" James scooped up and tossed another solider to his companion.

Mirri bit him, and hurled his body even as the hydra was still writhing about in pain. The dead solider passed between the right and middle head, before it exploded. "RELOAD!" The third soldier's body exploded in between the middle and left head. "RELOAD!" The fourth solider was pitched with a truly impressive skill, and ended up sailing underneath the hydra's heads which were upraised in pain, to explode beneath it. "RELOAD!"

James tossed the final solider to Mirri. She bit in and carefully balanced for a moment while she considered her target, then she threw. The hydra's right head had been opening as it evidently planned to try and strike down Mirri down with a bolt of lightening, sadly, before it could finish summoning up that bolt of lightening, the solider reached its target, and went right down the Hydra's throat.

There was a most unusual look upon the golden hydra's right most face for one single split second. And then the soldier it had swallowed exploded in its throat. The head went flying off and slammed into a wall and the neck slammed against the ground.

James' eyes flickered back and forth between the hydra's lost head and its slumped neck. "Huh, would you look at that? Now there are two heads left instead of four." Alexander who had been standing back more or less passively observing the fight suddenly was filled with new determination. "Well then, that's a whole different kettle of fish!"

The mercenary general dashed forward, and planted his black boots firmly on what had been the hydras middle head but was now simply the right head. He spun Masamune and in one clean cut through the weak blackened scales severed that head. Alexander jumped clear and sure enough no new heads spontaneously sprouted from that bleeding appendage. "Snarl for me you bastard!"

Florence stared down the hydra's one reaming head, and calmly raised her arms. The hydra moved its head back and forth and then struck out. Florence took a single step back and the hydra's head came up short, its teeth closing through empty air. "Gotcha!" Florence made the necessary motions to fire her wrist mounted crossbows.

The hydra never saw the satisfied look in her face as one bolt went through each of its eyes. "You can't move that body very fast, and that's something of a disadvantage isn't it?" The Hydra let lose with a roar of pain, but it was a blinded beast now, and all it could do was flail about and try to strike out blindly.

It wasn't able to do that very long either as Alexander approached the lamed monster with the stoicism of an executioner. He hopped over the swinging neck, and struck, though Masamune only cut about one fourth of the way through the thing's neck. He darted to his left, and slipped under the weaving head, before slamming Masamune deeply into the Hydra's head, but still the beast lived.

But now there were two deep gashes in its throat with a noticeable stream of blood pooling beneath them. "I have had quite enough of this!" The neck came for him again but this time Alexander did not try to dodge, he swung Masamune with all its strength and what was left of the head went whipping past him, though most of it fell to the floor at his feet.

All that remained of the hydra was an unmoving body a three severed heads. The large body seemed to glow for a few moments and then, and then transformed back into Emperor Barbarossa though he now had several deep gashes in his body and he lay bleeding upon the floor. "I am well and truly bested."

Alexander advanced slowly with a wide smirk on his face. "As I said, I do not do things halfway, ever." Suddenly a white portal shimmered into being behind him. A knife lashed out, and for once Alexander wasn't fast enough. The wooden chest strapped to his back came free and right into Royal Court Mage Windy's hands.

She cackled madly as she grasped the chest close to her body. "You fool Barbarossa, some 'Gold Emperor' you turned out to be! But what does it matter, in the end I still got what I wanted! Hello Soul Eater Rune!" She opened up the chest and the entire room was suddenly absorbed into a black vortex.

In the middle of it was Windy. But she was not alone for long. In addition to Emperor Barbarossa, and the Prophets of Destruction, three more wispy figures appeared. Odessa Silverberg, Teo McDohl, and Sanchez. A bright blue light shot from one to the next to the next, to the next until it completely encircled Windy. Teo's, whatever, raised his gauntleted hand and pointed it at Windy.

"You will do no more damage to the Scarlet Moon Empire." The other two nodded. The blue light which was striking Teo and arcing out towards Odessa suddenly turned towards Windy. The blackness vanished. Windy was hurled towards the balcony attached to the throne room and slammed up against the railing.

The Soul Eater Rune sank back into the chest that it had emerged from, and Alexander firmly kicked the lid closed. Windy looked at the chest, tears in her eyes. "Soul Eater Rune, you live only to take other's lives, and yet even you reject me..." Emperor Barbarossa arose to his feet, and walked over to her. "Windy..." Windy whacked away his hand. "Do not offer me your false motions Barbarossa, you do not love me, you only love my resemblance to your dead wife."

Barbarossa shook his head. "No, I loved you because I saw past the hatred in you and saw a frightened girl who only wanted to be loved... and this is how you have repaid my love... you took over the minds of my generals, you turn my armies against my friends, and you have brought my empire to ruin!" Windy's face no longer showed sadness, now it openly showed fear as Barbarossa lifted her from the ground.

"What are you doing, my Black Rune..." Prakk rattled loosely in its sheath as Barbarossa spoke in a very calm voice. "So long as I have Prakk at my side, I am immune to any sort of magical attack, and if it stops the power of other True Runes, nothing crafted by human hands has a chance." Barbarossa took a step towards the edge of the balcony, and there was not that many steps left. "NO, DON'T!"

Barbarossa however was clearly had little care for Windy's wishes. Instead he turned around, an odd sparkle in his deep eyes. "Farewell noble Silver Wolf, Alexander I can but ask selfishly that you look after the wreckage my own foolishness leaves behind..." Barbarossa made to leap the balcony in one clean motion, and he almost succeeded but just like the hydra, he underestimated Alexander's speed.

He went over the edge, but Alexander was there leaning over the railing in time to grab hold of the sheath that held Prakk before Barbarossa could go any farther, and if Alexander had any difficulty supporting the two bodies he didn't show it. Barbarossa clearly had a problem with being supported however. "Let me go!"

Alexander however, evidently had no intention of keeping Barbarossa from that desire for long. "As you wish, YOUR MAJESTY!" Alexander gave a firm yank and the strap attached to Prakk's sheath broke, leaving Alexander holding onto its scabbard while Barbarossa and Windy plummeted out of view. As those two vanished the castle began to shake and Cal sighed. "Boss, I don't mean to harp on you, but I think given that this entire castle is about to fall apart underneath our feet, we have to get out of here!"

--

End Chapter


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen: Acceptances and refusals.

A very well aimed storm ripped through the rubble that had once been a grand castle. A particular piece of rock that had been dislodged revealed a pair of human beings beneath it. Emperor Barbarossa was already dead, done in either by the fall or the collapsing castle, it hardly mattered.

However Court Mage Windy was still alive, for the moment. She grasped vainly towards the sunlight for a moment, but then it was eradicated as a towering figure stepped between it and her. The haze that had currently settled over Windy's mind made it hard for her to recognize the figure, but in the end she managed it. "Sister?"

She spoke the word through crackled and bloodied lips, in fact she was currently only able to see through her right eye, a the flow of blood from a still open wound on her forehead, effectively blinded her left. Leknaat nodded as serene as ever. "Indeed sister." A smile came slowly to Windy's lips. "You came to save me..."

Leknaat shook her head. "You should know better. I am a seer; I do not interfere with the coming and goings of mortals. I am only interested in the True Runes." Windy's eyes went to the white circle on the back of her right hand, the only reason she was still alive. "You're going to kill me?!"

It was a high pitched squeak, much like that of a mouse whose hind quarters were already inside a serpent's maw. Leknaat only shook her head again. "I do not kill, to personal pluck a string from the tapestry of fate would have irrevocable consequences for my ability to foresee any events for centuries to come. However sister, while I can not kill you, I do not have to save you by stretch of the imagination."

Leknaat removed her right glove and Windy's eyes went wide. "You wouldn't!" Lenkaat's eyes were very, very black. "You assured your death in one manner or another the day you decided to challenge Alexander Diamondclaw and the Prophets of Destruction. You should have known better then to attack those who live outside of destiny. Why did you do it, Windy?

You could have lived happily with the man who lies dead next to you, but apparently being loved, immortal and in possession of half a True Rune wasn't enough for you, you wanted more. For someone who claims to be above human, your motivation was shockingly plebeian.

We alone were entrusted by all of our clan with keeping the Gate Rune out of hands that would use it to do evil, with escaping while they died upon Harmonian blades so that somewhere somehow our clan might continue. You have failed in that duty Windy; you no longer have a right to the Front Gate. When I leave here, the Gate Rune after being divided for centuries will be once again complete, upon the back of my right hand."

Windy cackled madly. "You'll never get it Leknaat! You'll never get my rune unless you kill me!" Lenkaat's face and voice remained perfectly serene as she looked down on her sister with pity. "Alexander Diamondclaw is such an interesting man to watch. Truly the 'noble savage' made flesh with just enough understanding of such 'civilized' concepts as war to make him the most dangerous hybrid imaginable.

One such important lesson I gleaned watching him in action is that there were times when rather then launching a direct attack you should consider if there more efficient ways of getting what you want. Observe." Leknaat laid her right hand on top of Windy's, and willed the Front Gate Rune to meld with the half she already possessed.

Windy tried to fight back as soon as she realized what her sister was doing, tried to the pull the Back Gate Rune into her hand instead, but it was a hopeless struggle, she was in no position to take part in a mental struggle against a well rested opponent. Less than sixty seconds later, Windy's hand fell limp as Leknaat raised her hand, it now bore a half white, half black gate upon its back.

Her half of a True Rune was the only thing that had sustained Windy's life despite her grievous injuries, and her fruitless struggle had consumed the last of her energy. Leknaat showed no particular concern for her sister's body willing to let it lay in the rubble. "So it is done?" Leknaat nodded to her apprentice, and simply waved her hand opening a black portal.

The two stepped through it, and it vanished into thin air, where exactly they had gone was impossible to say.

--

"Now this is the life..." Cal put his feet up as he lay down. He and Devi two were currently out on a small boat in the middle of the Emperor's private fishing pond. What with Barbarossa being dead and all, Cal considered that the Prophets of Destruction had the right to fish in it, and no one had yet argued with them.

Of course no sooner had Cal said those words then he took a moment to look for any prospects of a bite, but none of the four rods he had dangling in the water showed even the slightest hint of movement however. "You know what? If I wanted to spend hours out on a boat I would have been a sailor. The only reason I'm out here because I want fish for dinner, Devi can I borrow Apologizer?"

Devi handed her flail over to Cal who smiled as he looked at his reflection in the pond. "You water breathing bastards think you're so smart for not eating worms suddenly lowered into your midst? You don't want to impale yourselves on my hooks? Well, that just fine with me. You're about to experience the Callan Wright fishing technique crafted from careful study of Alexander Diamondclaw's mastery of battlefield tactics!"

Cal lowered the metal chain into the water, and sent pulse of lightening along it and the lightening promptly dispersed itself into the water. Within moments every single fish in the pond rose to the surface lying on its side, quite dead. Cal handed Devi back her weapon as the female elf looked at the numerous freshly deceased fish before glaring back at Cal. "That wasn't very sporting was it?"

Cal casually tossed the rods into the water since he wouldn't need them any time soon; all he cared about now was capturing his defeated foes with the net. Such a task was more challenging then shooting a fish in a barrel, but still reasonably simple. "I'm a human; we don't exactly go for the 'patience' thing when we could have it right the hell now instead. Not to mention now we don't have to worry about cooking them either, another advantage to my unique fishing style!" Devi couldn't exactly argue with that, she had never been a fan of raw fish.

--

"So it's over?" Mirri walked right up to Sonya Schulen and locked eyes with her. "That's right, it's over. Though in a fair world Jane-come-latelies like you would have to do something to make up for the fact that women like me were working for the cause from the start, or at least close enough to it, while women like you were trying to kill us in the name of Emperor Barbarossa."

Then Mirri's right leg shot out, wrapped itself around Sonya's and pulled backwards. The former imperial general lost her balance and started to flail about for something to hold onto. She couldn't find anything to support her, so she started to fall, at least until Mirri's arms found her. Mirri grabbed hold of Sonya, then calmly leaned forward and pressed her lips firmly against Sonya's in a passionate kiss.

Sonya attempted to resist but it is hard to get words out when you have a pair of lips pressed against your own and so she had no choice but to endure until eventually Mirri broke the kiss and pulled Sonya back up to her previous posture. The female vampire took a moment to lustily lick her lips and then smiled happily at Sonya. "There we go, like they say, life is only as fair as we make."

And with that she walked off, leaving Sonya behind to just stand there in complete and utter amazement. Mirri on the other hand turned down an alley and once she was sure no one was looking, pumped her arm in victory. "Oh yeah, still got a way with the ladies..." Mirri then casually licked her lips again, smacking them loudly in the process. "And she had a nice taste to her to, reminds me of... strawberries that's it. Funny that I can still remember the taste after when I haven't eaten since I died, I guess I must have really liked strawberries when I was alive."

James casually stepped out from behind a couple barrels and crates stacked next to each other facing. "What do I taste like?" Mirri extended her right index finger licked it and proceeded to run it across her lips. "If I'm going to do this properly then I want to make sure that I don't end up getting my taste buds crossed." Mirri attempted to pull the same move that she had on Sonya, and though she managed to yank one of James' legs out from beneath him, he simply adjusted the position of his tail so that he could remain properly balanced on a single appendage.

Of course just because he could didn't mean he did of course. He fell forward, and Mirri caught him, and the two embraced. Eventually Mirri pushed James backwards, and licked her lips before answering. "First off, unlike Sonya you use tongue, also this might just be the fact that I've been with you so long, but seriously, you taste like sex."

It was now James' turn to pump his arms in victory. "That's sort of one of the milestones of a successful relationship isn't it?" Mirri quickly went from kissing James' lips to licking the back of his neck, whatever hair her tongue was picking up in the process evidently not bothering her at all. "Oh yeah you're good enough to drink James, I've been saying it for centuries."

--

Alexander lazily rested on a bed of ashes, it was exactly where Teo McDohl's bed had been, where he would have slept if Emperor Barbarossa hadn't turned the Army of the Scarlet Moon Empire against them. He raised a bottle of the best liquor he had been able to buy offhand, even if it was a pale second to that bottle of Highland 385. "Here we joined the revolution, here it was we lit the flame, here we hopped to live to see tomorrow, and indeed our tomorrow came!"

Teo had never ordered, never even made an attempt at rebuilding his house, apparently. Had he even been told it had been burned down? Perhaps he did know about it, but he hadn't bothered because he knew that he would be defeated in the end. "You miss him don't you?" Alexander finished the bottle and hurled it in Florence's general direction with wicked speed, but she caught it easily, before throwing it against the ground.

Alexander wished desperately that he had another bottle, but there were none within arms reach. "Yes, I'm going to miss Teo McDohl and Emperor Barbarossa. They were both men who had the exact same failing, they loved too well and none too wisely. But that was my greatest failing as well wasn't it?" Year after year of defending himself against attack with only a moment's warning brought up Alexander's hand in time to grab the new bottle that Florence hurled in his direction without turning his head.

He brought it back around from behind his head and read the label. "I don't believe it. Where the hell did you get this? A bottle from when I was thirteen years old, I could have helped make this thing!" Florence walked over to Alexander and placed an arm around him. "Milich Oppenheimer had it in one in his private stock. He'd never found something worthy of celebrating with it, even winning the War of Succession. Luckily I was quite convincing and he agreed to part with it."

Alexander didn't ask what "convincing" meant, instead he simply reached down with his bare teeth and bit the cork off. Then he took a long drink before sloshing the contents around in his mouth for a few moments. At which point he spat it out, spraying the liquor all over the ashes of Teo's house.

"That's horrible. Which either means that it has either sat around for way too long, which is not completely unreasonable, or I'm much better at drinking than I am at distilling, again not a totally unreasonable premise." Florence taking her life in her hands took the bottle from Alexander, drank, and not so long later she proceed to cough it up as well. "Yeah if you made that, you've might have killed more people in taverns than you ever did on the battlefield. But then like the saying goes, it's the thought that counts isn't it?"

Alexander nodded glumly and then Florence boldly approached the subject she knew was on his mind. "It's love again isn't it?" Alexander nodded, wishing he had a bottle of passable alcoholic beverage to pull from. "Yep. I, as you've obviously noticed, survived my early mistakes, that makes me one of the lucky ones. Plenty of people don't. Love makes people far more dangerous then hatred.

For all of her boundless hatred for this world, had it not been for how Emperor Barbarossa loved her, and Teo's love for the empire, even with her Front Gate Rune and Black Runes, Windy was still nothing but a pathetic spoiled girl. Why is it that love makes us so dangerous, and what does it say about our race that should be the most perfect and splendid of human emotions, allows us to do horrific things to one another?

Well I suppose that's just how life works, in our case the love of a good woman can make at least a passable man out of anyone, even me. But if you place your love in a bad woman as Barbarossa did, or in a dead one as Teo did... and even the greatest of men will be dragged down to a sad sorry little end."

"What about James and Mirri?" Alexander sighed burying his head in his hands. "Well I guess that's just one of those exceptions that proves the rule. Besides, I didn't mean dead as in an unbeating heart, I mean dead as in not actively returning your affections." Florence nodded having expected such a reaction.

"I think love is the natural human, elf, dwarf, kobold, or otherwise condition. We want to be loved, and we want to love. Those who are not loved tend to want to love all the more, and so they are more likely to find 'love' in all the wrong places. Only when someone has been forced into a truly unusual position will they give themselves to hate the way Windy did." Alexander lazily wrapped an arm of his own around Florence's body, and tilted his head backwards. "So tell me Cal, how does the city fare?"

"Jeez boss, how did you know it was me?" Though Alexander sat in ashes in more or less the middle of the city, the occupants of Gregminster kept their distance from him, none of them wanting to come near him. The Silver Wolf had managed to pierce the defenses of the Golden Emperor, and his jaws had drawn forth a crimson fountain of blood. He was the victor, and having some vague idea of what had happened to the emperor, no citizen of the empire wanted to even possibly draw his ire.

"I could have heard you coming with my ears stuffed with cotton Cal, and only you'd succumb to decadence so extravagantly." Cal had changed his outfit. Gone was his hardy brown cloak and pants. Instead he wore a white cloak that literally looked soft to the eyes probably made from he fur of some quite unusual animal. Each and every single button in the new golden vest he wore was made of a different type of stone. Jade, gold, silver, amethyst, opal and so on and so forth down his jacket in a miniature rainbow.

His pants were now of a similar nature of Alexander's, but they seemed much more ceremonial and much less likely to survive under difficult conditions. On every finger he wore a golden ring with precious gems from emerald to diamond. He walked into Alexander's view point, and proceeded to sit down in the ashes. "What can I say? You want a good reception, be a hero to the people who are your hosts, they'll give you more then you deserve; you want a great reception, conquer your hosts, they'll give you whatever you want.

As for the city, it fares reasonably well, it's not like they were invaded by a foreign nation, most of them just want to get a new emperor on a new throne and let life get back to normal after being at war for so long. They'll probably be bringing you your crown as soon as a good sized group of them manages to work up the balls to actually do the deed."

A single eyebrow twitched. "My crown?" Cal shrugged as if this was the most obvious things in the world. "What do you think boss, during the War of Succession you were one of the seven generals who turned the tide in Barbarossa's favor. You killed the last Emperor, and correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that Prakk the sword which has been passed down the Rudiger family from one Emperor to another, not always peacefully, resting at your feet?

Besides most of the population of the city are just people of the earth, the common clay of the land, morons, who can't comprehend that Alexander Diamondclaw might want to unseat an emperor, just so that he could trod upon his body rather than to take his place. So like I said, they're going to be offering to make you the new: emperor, king, high general, grand general, potentate, nabob, first citizen of the union, grand poobah, glorious exalted blessed magnificence, whatever you want to call yourself as the ruler of whatever you want to rename this particular stretch of land. It's the blood rule; he who spills the blood makes the rules."

Alexander looked lazily down at the sword that he had managed to separate from his hand. "Callan Wright, I care more about this pile of ashes, than the rest of the Scarlet Moon Empire put together." Cal's face plummeted faster then a dragon suddenly finding itself without wings in mid-flight. "What? Come on, you can't be serious! We could dress like I am every day! We could drink beer out of jewel encrusted skulls! I could go back home and hire people to beat up all the snot nosed jerks who laughed at me! Not that I couldn't beat them up myself, but hiring people to do it is a status symbol thing. Don't tell me that you're going to turn that down!"

Alexander however, was as always, unflinching. "I do not kid Cal. We have more important things do with our lives then to sit around lording over these people." Cal fell to the ashes in desperation. "Please Boss; I'm down on my knees in a 90,000 potch suit! Can't you reconsider this?" Alexander stood up so that he could glare firmly down at Cal. "You know our mission; we're not going to get it done if we sit around here."

Cal's face was a truly piteous thing to behold. "But... but, it'd be easier if we accepted! We wouldn't have to scrounge up an army every time we need one, and we'd have enough respect to get people to do what we wanted, think about the respect Boss! Are you really going to turn that down?" Once again, Alexander simply crossed his arms. "In a word, yes. If this conflict has taught you anything its that the only kind of motion guaranteed never to stop is perpetual motion.

As long as we keep moving and keep fighting, we can be sure that we'll be able to keep moving and keep fighting." Cal whimpered and sunk to the ground showing no care what so ever for the condition of his outfit curling his body into a small pathetic ball, his voice a half sob half whine. "That's just wonderful, our lives are going to suck, and they're going to go on forever. I hate you from the very bottom of my heart."

Alexander didn't even bother to look in his subordinate's position as he spoke. "You know my terms Cal. You know what leaving would mean." Cal shuddered slightly but now his voice was firm. "I know them, no thanks. I'll take a long sucky life punctuated by periods of less sucky than usual periods over a short one. That's the bind you've got me in, my own narcissism works entirely for you and you know it."

Alexander nodded calmly as his follower lay in a ball of loathing half self, and half directed at his commander. "Damn straight. But I suppose we should make it evidently clear why exactly it is that I'd make a bad king. Come on Florence I do believe that it's time to put on a bit of a show for my adoring, and frightened out of their wits, public.

Oh and Cal get up off the ground and scrape yourself off, I'd prefer you looked presentable for what I'm planning. Once your done dusting yourself off get the other three and tell them to gather in front of the fountain with the three angels."

--

"Barbarossa will most likely be considered a fine emperor who over the course of his reign went insane with power, you on the other hand will doubtlessly be remembered as simply delightfully deranged start to finish. "

Alexander eased himself into a seat facing Lepant in the best inn that remained standing in the city. "I doubt that most heartily." The blond haired man apparently disagreed rather heartily with Alexander's premise. "I heard that particular display you put on the center of the city a short while ago." Alexander's smile broadened. "What you didn't care to watch me making all the royal musicians stand around in the center of the town and play traditional waltzes at twice their normal speed so that I didn't get bored waiting for the next note to arrive?"

Lepant carefully evaluated the general who was sitting across the table from him. "You are not a man of the Scarlet Moon Empire, and as you have so recently displayed you are also not a man with any great respect for tradition. I can already imagine you keeping a stable full of wolves much like other rulers have kept hunting dogs, and am sure that their howling will prove quite enjoyable to everyone within earshot."

Apparently since the time that Alexander had recruited him, Lepant had gotten a much better grasp on the concept of sarcasm. Alexander however simply shook his head with a firmness that left no room for debate. "I won't be regarded as a mad, crazy, insane, or anything else emperor, because I will never be an emperor of this nation."

Alexander could have knocked the, mustached man over with a feather after that pronouncement. "What? The people of this city, of this nation are ready to hand it over to you on a platter, and you plan to refuse them?" Alexander nodded as if anyone in their right mind would do the exact same thing. "Of course I will. As I told Mathiu Silverberg a few months back, a wolf pack should be such that even the omega can managed to more or less keep up with the alpha's stride.

If I was alpha of this pack you call a nation, then believe me: I'd leave you all in the dust before you know it. You wouldn't enjoy it, and I wouldn't enjoy being held back by you. So I have no intentions of taking over, I'm simply not fit for the job, I'm far too over qualified.

What the Scarlet Moon Empire needs is a man who has shown a certain amount of skill at managing people, and has a loving wife who is still of age to bear his children." Lepant casually tapped his fingers on the table. "You tell this to me because..." "I suppose its a good thing I didn't mention keen deductive skills on the list of things the ruler will need, though I suppose that's what advisers are for after all. Now as you have you seem to have failed to grasp my point I will say it plainly, I plan for that man to be you."

For the second time, Alexander had taken Lepant completely by surprise. "Oh... my..." "The Silver Wolf Army has done a rather excellent job separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to those who can fight and manage armies in this nation. With the support of those like Mathiu Silverberg and the four surviving generals you shouldn't end up going too far wrong."

Lepant nodded very slowly, rolling his tongue back and forth in his mouth as if trying to figure out what rulership on that level would taste like. "On the issue of heir's, I already have a no account son who has doubtlessly used my absence to sire at least one bastard grandson already." That surprised Alexander, measuring people's age wasn't exactly his greatest skill, but he hardly would have guessed that Lepant's wife was old enough to have a son who was old enough to have sons of his own. But that wasn't his problem.

"As I said, it doesn't have to be permanent, but I won the war and unless you plan on taking to the hills then I intend to make it quite clear that I aim for you to be the one who controls this land. I also suggests you make this place a republic, they're typically less efficient then empires, even at the best of times, but they're typically better off at the worst of them.

The way they divide power among many people prevents any one man, or one woman, from running wild with too much of it. You could even arrange for elections a year or two from now after the people have had a chance to see how you do as a ruler and either vote for you to stay or go and then possibly vote again for who would replace you."

Lepant was starting to put his thinking crown on. "Wouldn't it make more sense just to have one vote either in favor of keeping me or electing someone else in particular?" Alexander shrugged. "It'll be your republic to run, but I think that might lead to slightly lopsided results.

A man might stay in power simply because those who oppose him seem marginally worse. Better to vote simply on keeping you or not considering only whatever talents or faults you've shown, then if they vote you out allow each and every town to put forward its mayor and let him try to get elected ruler." Lepant nodded sagely. "Such votes, they'd tie the nation up considerably, not as messy a transfer of power as this turned out to be, but still far more difficult then simply passing power from father to son."

Alexander shrugged helplessly. "I'm a mercenary, I've only been kicking around this republic idea in the back of my head after I was done thinking about how to win the war. You might want to have the voting take place once the leaves finish turning from green to orange on the trees. By that point the farmers have finished harvesting their crops, and everyone more or less simply shuts themselves in for the winter, so people will have time to race about casting, gathering, counting and recounting the votes.

By the time the spring thaw comes you should more or less have some sort of result." Lepant nodded seeing the wisdom of Alexander's words. "Of course we'll need people to watch who counts the votes, and people to watch those people, and possibly, fates preserve me, people to watch those people. But I suppose if the results from each area are counted by someone from a different area than where they are cast that might help somewhat."

"You best give each man two strips of paper on which to vote. Make sure they write the same name one each of them. Have your men take one and let the voter keep the other, thus if at any point a particular person's vote is in question, you only need to check the piece of paper they still have."

More problems came to Lepant's mind. "Some of this people of this nation have not the wisdom to write their own names, much less that of whichever man they think best suited to run their nation." "Well speaking as a general I would say that if a man has not the wit to write the name of his leader of his choice, than the nation would be better off could he not vote. But then I suppose if nations were run the way armies were then they would most defiantly not be republics.

Have them already written out for them, preferably each man in a different color. Even if they can not tell the names apart they should be able to tell the colors. Make each man and his supporters have to wear his colors when they support his cause so that it will be easy to remember what each color stands for, that should be simple enough." "Yes it rather should be."

Alexander's eyebrows tilted upwards slowly. "So I take it that I've sold you on the concept of taking the throne, once someone manages to build a new one or pull the old one from the rubble of the emperor's castle?" Lepant nodded firmly. "I have not known you for a man who makes a great many mistakes. If you think that I am a man who posses the skills to rule then I shall at the very least attempt it.

If I succeed, then I will have done a great service for my nation. Should I fail, then I will have the pleasure of telling you to your face amid the rubble of another castle that had you worn the crown, none of this would have happened."

Alexander smiled jovially. "Don't bet on that Lepant. I'm grabbing the first horse I can find out of here, as soon as I finish digging out, and looting the imperial treasury". "Looting?" Lepant evidently did not like the taste of that word on his tongue. "Alexander if you seek to make me some kind of straw man to burn while you ride off with all the wealth of the Empire..."

Alexander held up his calmingly. "Not all the wealth. Just what is by all rights mine in light of the contract that Emperor Barbarossa originally signed us to, well that and a 10 bonus because... well frankly because I feel like it and because the foes I ended up fighting prove to be much of a much higher caliber than a the crew of motley bandits I was told I'd be facing. Not of a high enough caliber to make me worry about defeat you understand, but enough that I stayed up late some nights working on tactics that under other conditions I might have spent more pleasurably with Florence.

So as I said, we dig out the treasure, we take what is rightfully ours, which has been what this war has always been about since I got involved in it, and off we go." Lepant's eyes twitched upwards slightly. "You say that this entire revolution has been about nothing more then a chest full of jewels?" Alexander adjusted a new leather strap that he was wearing over his shoulder.

"Note quite, though you could make a case that this war was always about nothing more than a simple wooden chest containing a particular type of 'jewel' from Windy's point of view. She started the war between us, I stayed in for the joy of spurning her, and while I may be a man who would turn aside an empire, why should I turn up my nose at a chest full of the royal jewels with none of the annoying entrapments of political power?"

Lepant sighed and nodded slowly. "In the end I suppose you are nothing but a man, you may see far enough ahead to refuse what some of us would take with both hands careless of what price we payed for it later, but when there is no downside, you take with both hands like any other man.

A toothy smile played across Alexander's face. "I don't just take with both hands, I grab some stuff with my mouth as well. You could ask Florence about it before we leave if you want…" "As one gentlemen to... someone who sometimes acts as if he was one, I'd just soon rather not." "That's rather what I suspected."

--

"Where are you going?" It was a week later, and Mathiu Silverberg was managing to stand of his own accord next to Alexander's grey horse. The general smiled back at the strategist. "North. I've got a friend who I owe a favor to that I can only pay back by heading that way.

Afterwards, well maybe I'll make sure any sort of unpleasantness that remains between the United City State of Jowston and the newly born Republic of Toran is worked out one way or another. As I once said, Mayor Anabelle of the Muse is said to be a woman after Mirri's unbeating heart, the female of the species and all that.

I somehow doubt we'll have too much trouble finding a contract up there. Hopefully whatever happens it will be less spectacular than this contract turned out to be." "Very well then, good luck Alexander, I think I have had enough of you in my lifetime."

The six horses took off into the sunrise and Mathiu turned back towards the capital city that would become his home once again, in agreeing to help Lepant he no longer had the pleasure of secluded life, but he would be able to do the most good in that city and given that he only had but so many years left, he had best try to get as much good out of them, and do as much good during them as possible. Making the most of his years, that was all just about all anyone could ever do... But then Alexander Diamondclaw and the Prophets of Destruction were not just anyone.

--

"So that is it?" "I'm afraid so Head Priest. As I believe I heard one man say, it ends not with a bang but with a whimper." "Such a shame. Is it so much to ask that when two sisters are left a lone in the world, each with half of a True Rune that one of them would manage achieve some worthwhile act of villainy? It would have been so wonderfully ironic, the Rudiger line, an eternal thorn in my side being yanked out by a splinter of one of my sadly less successful actions.

Oh well, it's not as if I actually had my hand in this particular fiasco. So enough moping, let us look ahead to the future. Is everything I've heard about that young Highland stripling true?" "He's hardly a stripling..." "I do not care about what you call him, is it true?"

"True that he witnessed his own mother taken against her will before his very eyes by over two dozen separate men? That this event left his mother in a mental state most deplorable and that she soon gave birth to the young man's half sister, yes. That every day since his sister's birth the young prince has been honing his skill with a blade against every single opponent he can find, including monsters, yes.

That the lady, still quite out of her mind died recently, yes. That there are rumors that the bandits who took his mother, in every sense of the word were in the employ of the United City State of Jowston, yes." "How marvelous. I hardly think we need prompt him at all to discover the true 'power' that he might inherit, but let us watch and act appropriately, for there is so very much we can gain.

Let's raise a glass to that bastard Maroux Blight who murdered so very many men in my name, and that fucking spear I tossed him like a bone to a well trained dog, and sure enough he wagged his tail, rolled over, and practically pissed the carpet with joy at the sight of it! Oh and how willing he accepted my other gift, never realizing in doing so he sowed the seeds of his own family and kingdom's destruction. The entire Dunan region will return to Harmonia soon, of that I have not one single shred of doubt."

FN: Thus ends the first Ronin Trip Book. I've written books two and three 2 and 3, but I'm not going to post them any time soon unless this chapter goes out strong when it comes to reviews. This is your last chance to tell me what you think people!


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